Still There For Me
by rogers.forbidden.love.child
Summary: They say love is like a gravel path... The journey will be rocky, but it's the destination that counts... We agreed never again, so why does it keep happening? Gabpay
1. Trailer

**Bold is narration.**

_Italics are shots/what is seen._

Normal is speech

* * *

**It was their little secret…**

_Shot of Sharpay sat in class, pans to a shot of Gabriella sat in the same class at a different desk._

**No-one knew…**

_Shot of Gabriella and Sharpay at lunch, camera pans down to show that underneath the table they are holding hands._

**But what happens when the secret gets too big to keep?**

_Troy sits next to Gabriella in homeroom._

"Where were you last night?"

"Out."

"Where? With Sharpay?"

_Gabriella looks down, away from Troy before trying to walk away._

"Answer me!"

**They both know it was wrong…**

_Sharpay pins Gabriella up against the wall, kissing her passionately._

"Sharpay."

_Gabriella pulls away. Sharpay tries to follow her lips._

"Sharpay, this is wrong."

_Sharpay lets go of her and walks out of the cupboard._

**But they both can't stop…**

"Sharpay."

_Gabriella and Sharpay lie in bed, a sheet covering both their bodies. Sharpay turns her head to look at Gabriella._

"Promise you'll never leave me."

_Sharpay reaches with her hand to intertwine their fingers._

"I promise."

**Then something always gets in the way...**

_Gabriella stands in front of Sharpay, yelling at her._

"How could you do this to me?!"

"Oh and you're allowed to do the exact same thing to me every single day?!"

_Gabriella storms out the room, leaving Sharpay fuming._

**What happens when the secret isn't a secret anymore?**

_Troy stands there, blocking Gabriella's path. She tries to get past him and he grabs her arm, pulling her towards him._

"Don't walk away from me!"

_He pushes her against the wall and kisses her. She doesn't kiss back._

**What happens when they realise what they lost?**

_Shot of Sharpay sitting in her dark room, her room trashed around her._

_Shot of Gabriella starting at a razor blade, thinking about how inviting it looks._

**Will they get each other back?**

_Gabriella is stood sat at a table in the cafeteria with Taylor, Kelsi, Martha and Chad. She notices everyone is looking past her and she follows their gazes over her shoulder. Sharpay is stood up the stairs in a tailored suit with a black trilby hat atop her straight blonde hair._

**Or will things get in the way?**

_Shot of Troy, clenching his fists tight. His fingers dig into his palms, drawing blood._

_He lets out a scream of pure rage and charges at the screen. He draws his fist back…_

_**Black out**_

"You really think you could get away with this?"

_Close shot of Sharpay's face, her eyes wide with fear._

"You pr… promised."

_Still the same close shot of Sharpay's face, her eyes close when Gabriella's voice goes quiet._

_**Black out**_

"I'm sorry…" _(Whisper in Sharpay's voice)_

**Still There For Me**

* * *

**Please feel free to continue to read. And if you could leave a review telling me what you think that would be great cheers.**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	2. The Pool Party

**This is a trailer that my good friend XxCasxX made for this story. ****I've**** said it before but ****I'll**** say it again; DUDE U ROCK!!! **

**Ok for some reason it isn't letting me show the link... so just go on youtube and search Trailer For a Mate... i think it's the first option.**

**Thanks for all the feedback for the last chapter guys! I know there was a teaser but it sucked and ****I**** was ashamed of it so ****I**** wrote the trailer instead and now ****I**** am carrying on from the trailer...**

**And thank you to everyone who has reviewed and had added this story to their favourites and alerts.**

**I'm debating whether to have Chyan in this as well... what do you guys think?**

"Does anyone know why we always seem to bust out into song and dance?" Chad asked.

He looked around at everyone and was meet with the sight of bewildered glances and shoulder shrugging. He looked down at his feet and sighed, "We're all crazy." That was the only possible explanation. He kept his eyes lowered to the ground and shook his head slowly while walking away.

Taylor watched him walk away and smiled. The way he shook his head made his hair sway. For a moment she was mesmerised by the sight of his hair which it looked like it was doing a Mexican wave. Also the sight of him as he walked away didn't hurt either (his butt looked so... so... hmmm). Then she was shocked out of her thoughts (not all of them 'nice') by a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Chad! Heads up!" Ryan yelled before running as fast as he could into the oblivious boy. They both tumbled into the clear blue water of the pool and everyone erupted into laughter. Except two unseen people.

Gabriella stood there, barely managing a half-hearted smile.

And across the pool from her stood an equally jubilant Sharpay.

If anyone had spared a glance at both of them, they would have been freaked out by the similarity between the two girls' expressions.

Both had the same blank look in their eyes and the same sad half smile on their lips. It was like they were brain dead. They saw what was happening but their brains weren't processing what their eyes saw.

But no-one spared a glance in either girls' direction. They were too caught up in the party and what was happening in the pool. It was a celebration but for what no-one knew. Ryan pushing Chad in the pool seemed to act like a trigger for people to start jumping or be pushed into the pool.

Pretty soon, the only two people left not in the pool were the two girls. Only then did people notice them.

"Hey Gabriella!" Troy yelled at the stationary girl, only just noticing that she wasn't in the water next to him. "Come back in!"

Gabriella turned to look down at him with her blank stare. He was the reason she was stood here like this. She didn't want to be anywhere near him.

* * *

"Hey Shar!" Ryan yelled to his twin. "What'cha doing?" 

Still Sharpay just stood there. She gave no sign of hearing Ryan calling out. She just stood there.

"Shar?" Ryan said quietly. He was worried but he said her name so quietly that there was no way the blonde could hear her twin over the ruckus of the kids in the pool. Ryan's mouth twisted into a frown as concern etched itself in his face. That frown then contorted into a smirk as he thought of something that would most definitely get his twins attention.

His smirk grew as he brought his arm back, his eyes locked on Sharpay. She still hadn't even looked at him- she just gazed off into space. He smashed his hand into the water around him, causing a big enough splash for it to reach Sharpay. His smirk disappeared as he saw that his splash had no effect on her. His splash may have missed her stunning, curve hugging blue dress but it still ruined the white heels she wore. By all means he should be dead right now. His mind quickly flashed back to the time when he had taken one of Sharpay's Gucci stilettos and she had chased him round the house to get it back. Then he had run outside and the shoe had slipped out of his hand when he tripped over the small step up to the pool area. Time had seemed to slow and both twins had looked on in horror as the high heeled shoe had spun through the air. Inevitably, it landed in the crystal clear waters of the pool. Sharpay had rushed to the poolside, treading on Ryan to do so. She stood there, watching the leather shoe sink to the bottom of the pool. The shoe hit the bottom and a single tear ran down Sharpay's cheek to land in the water. She stayed there for a moment, staring down in disbelief, not wanting to believe that one of her favourite shoes was now ruined. When reality sunk in a mere second later, Ryan rushed to her side to also stare down at the shoe. He swallowed heavily before looking at his twin. He found her already looking at him, no trace of the tear left on her cheek, her eyes full of anger. He could've sworn he saw steam coming out of her ears. He began to back away slowly, muttering apologises and excuses. He wasn't looking where he was going so was surprised when he stepped back to find nothing there to support him. He tumbled to the ground and Sharpay took this as her opportunity to pounce. But he was too quick for her and had already rolled to his feet. He ran to the house and looked back over his shoulder. What he saw only made him run faster through the maze of corridors that made up the lower level of their house. He had thanked God everyday since that his parents were home and he got to them before Sharpay got to him.

That was the last time he had seen his sister cry...

That was five years ago...

Right now he swore he saw her eyes cloud up with tears. Now he was really worried.

He pushed his way through the bodies clogging up the water, trying to move faster by using his hands to push the water past and behind him. His eyes were locked on Sharpay. He was almost there. He took his eyes off Sharpay for a moment to search the side of the pool for the ladder he would use to climb out the pool so he could rush to his twins side. He saw it and started to make his way towards it, his eyes travelling up to once again look at his twin. He found his view blocked by a soaked Chad. Just as he was about to tell Chad to move the boy smirked, making Ryan groan. He knew what that smirk meant. He tried to move but he looked around to find he was now suddenly surrounded by wildcats.

All he could do was brace himself...

In Chad leapt, landing right on top of the blonde Drama King. Chad pulled them both under and Ryan wrestled him, his lungs having been robbed of all their precious air when the Jock had collided with him. He opened his eyes to look up through the water. What he saw was distorted by the ripples of the water but he thought he saw his twin walking away from the pool. He fought Chad harder, needing to get to his sister. The seconds he spent writhing in the water, trying desperately to get away from Chad seemingly stretched and lengthened into millennia. He fought against Chad furiously, needing to be free from this water. His lungs burned as he fought for more than needing to see Sharpay. He needed air.

He finally broke through the surface of the water after what felt like years. He gulped down the sweet air, never having felt more grateful for the stuff. He felt it fill his lungs and the oxygen carry around his blood, rejuvenating all his muscles.

He whipped his head around, shaking the water out of his eyes. He opened his eyes but water still ran down his face from his hair, the chlorine stinging his eyes and blurring his vision. All he saw were fuzzy outlines. He swore under his breath before rubbing his eyes, trying to be rid of the water. He only succeeded in making it worse. His eyes stung like hell but still he opened them to search for what he hoped would be his sister.

His eyes settled on someone stood still with blonde hair. He waited for his vision to return to its proper state. It did once he blinked the last of the water from his eyes. He opened them to find the girl that he was staring at was not his sister but some nameless faceless cheerleader type. She looked his way and he returned her gaze with an icy coldness evident in his eyes. The girl frowned before getting uncomfortable under his unwavering gaze. Evidently this girl was a cheerleader stereotype because she did not have the brains to turn away from him and his bitter eyes. Ryan eventually got bored of intimidating the girl and turned away, shaking his head. His sister was long gone...

_Maybe __I__ was too hard on her before... __I__ mean switching the song so Gabriella could sing was kinda bitchy..._

"Hey Drama King!" Jason yelled at him. "I could take you easy!"

Ryan snorted his laughter. "Wait," he started walking through the water towards the assembled Wildcats. "You really think you can beat this?" Ryan undid his shirt and smirked as he saw all the basketball players' jaws drop. No-one could've guessed Ryan was so defined. Jason suddenly backed down, losing his nerve out of pure shock alone.

"Wow," Taylor whispered to Kelsi. "Who would've guessed Ryan was packing?"

Martha overheard this and pushed her way through them. "Hands off girls!" Martha said. "He's mine."

She wrapped her arms around Ryan and kissed him full on the lips.

* * *

Sharpay saw this from afar. She would have found the sight of her brother struggling against the girl hilarious is she had not been so pissed off with him. 

_How dare he? He ruined my show!!! He __humiliated__ me! __He__ thinks he's got away with this just because __I__ gave him that stupid Star Dazzle award? He's even more of an idiot than __I__ thought..._

She watched them all; laughing, playing, having fun. She watched it and resented it.

She felt an anger inside her so strong that she could not express it. She looked at them all and felt such rage it numbed her. Her face showed no emotion because that is how she wanted to present herself to the world.

Then she caught sight of someone. Some else who was separate from the group, just like she was. She looked closer, trying to make out who exactly it was.

_Gabriella... _

The rage inside Sharpay flared and for a moment she let the blank mask slip. Her nostrils flared and her lips drew back in a snarl. Her eyebrows knitted together before she caught herself and replaced the mask.

_That bitch..._

She was the reason for all this.

_W__ithout her, Troy would be mine._

_Without her, this summer would never __have__ happened. _

_Without her, Ryan would never have stood up to me._

Sharpay let a smile spread across her lips as Gabriella came closer and closer to where she stood in the shade of the building. Sharpay hid out of sight as Gabriella passed where she stood. She wiped the smile from her face and checked her reflection, making sure her mask was back in place before walking silently in the direction Gabriella had gone.

* * *

Gabriella went wherever her feet took her. She was on autopilot, lost in her own thoughts, her own little world. 

_He's not the same..._

It was true. Troy had changed so much. He was no longer the same guy she had met in that non-descript ski-lodge on that New Years Eve. He wasn't the same guy she had broken free with. He wasn't even the same guy who had told her that she was the music in him.

_What happened to you Troy_

She sighed as still she walked. She wished she knew the answer to half the questions circling round her head. But she had none. No answers presented themselves.

She left as soon as they had jumped in the pool together because she had followed his gaze. She wished she hadn't. All it had lead to was heart-break. It had led to Sharpay.

_This is all her fault..._

In her head she ran through all the events of the summer and the time she had spent at East High.

_Without her, Troy would never have been so obsessed with his future._

_Without her, Troy wouldn't have ignored me and his friends._

_Without her, Troy and I would be happy..._

The numbness she felt in her soul was in her soul was now smeared with anger. Anger which was all focused towards one certain blonde Ice Queen.

* * *

Sharpay followed Gabriella into the locker room and ducked behind a bank of lockers, hiding herself in its shadow. 

Her eyes followed Gabriella until the other girl disappeared from view.

She relaxed slightly, releasing some of the tension she had built up following the raven haired beauty.

She immediately tensed again as she heard an angry scream come from the left of her. She turned to see what had caused it.

Her eyes met Gabriella's.

Fear shot through her. She knew what that look meant.

_Crap._

Sharpay readied herself as Gabriella soared towards her, arms outstretched.

But Sharpay moved with a quickness gained through years of being forced to take classes in all kinds of dance. She dodged to the left, stretching out her arm to catch Gabriella as she flew past her.

She grabbed onto Gabriella's wrist and used the girls own momentum against her. She pushed her into the lockers and pinned her there. Sharpay spared a moment to wonder how she had let her guard down enough to allow Gabriella to see her before she let her blank mask fall from her face. She looked at Gabriella's face to find the girl snarling at her, teeth bared in rage. Her eyes were so filled with anger and hate that Sharpay was taken aback for a moment. She couldn't remember seeing Gabriella like this ever. Sure she had been a bit ticked off when she had had a go at Sharpay about Troy but she had never seen Gabriella pissed off before.

"Let me go!" Gabriella screamed at her. Sharpay's mouth formed a little 'O' out of shock before she set her mouth in a snarl like Gabriella's. Gabriella had never shouted before. Even when she was meant to for scenes in _Twinkle Town__e _she had not screamed or shouted.

"No!" Sharpay bellowed back. "This is all your fault! You took away my twin!"

"And you took away my boyfriend!"

"You destroyed my show!"

"Which one? Twinkle Towne or the Talent Show?"

Gabriella snarl turned into a smirk as she said this, fully aware of the effect it would have on Sharpay.

This made Sharpay lose it, she saw red.

"You ruined everything."

Sharpay said this so quietly, Gabriella had to strain her ears to hear it. The quietness of Sharpay's voice coupled with the expression on her face, let Gabriella know she had pushed the girl too far.

Fear was evident in Gabriella's face as Sharpay loomed over her, filling her vision.

Sharpay pulled her forward, towards her before slamming her backwards into the lockers. Gabriella's back arched in pain before she saw her chance. She brought her head forward, not aiming to his Sharpay in the face but rather her collarbone. She made direct contact with such force that if Sharpay had not moved with the blow, her collarbone would have been shattered.

Sharpay staggered back, clutching at her shoulder in pain. She brought her eyes up to lock onto Gabriella's. She let out a snarl as she lurched forwards catching Gabriella by surprise; she had not expected the blonde to recover so fast.

She tackled Gabriella, making her back crash into the lockers behind her with a bang. Both girls heard the crack of Gabriella's back against the metal.

But only one girl heard it groan as the lockers started to tip. Gabriella, oblivious to the fact the lockers were falling, grabbed whatever she could with her hands to steady herself. Her hands only found the locker doors. But her pulling on them to right herself was enough to make the lockers tip back over in the other direction. The direction which Gabriella was also in.

Too late, Gabriella realised the lockers were falling. There was nothing she could do. Everything would take too long. She would never be able to get clear in time. She surrendered herself to her fate.

* * *

Sharpay saw what was happening and acted before she thought. She sprang into action, rushing forward to grasp Gabriella's shoulders before jumping as far as she could with the other girl weighing her down. 

Seeing the floor coming up to meet her, she braced herself and tried to spin, holding Gabriella to her so as not to land on the other girl.

She felt the air rush out of her lungs as she landed hard on the lino. Black tinted the edges of her vision as she felt her consciousness ebb away.

* * *

Gabriella opened her eyes to find herself not under a locker but lying on top of her loathed enemy. She couldn't have got up quicker if she tried. She brushed herself off and looked around her. She saw the bank of lockers on the floor and felt gratitude towards Sharpay fill her as she put two and two together in her mind. 

She smiled a little smile to herself as she looked down at the unconscious blonde.

_Wait a minute, what if she's unconscious coz she's hurt?_

Concern drove out the gratitude that Gabriella had felt as she dropped to her knees and checked Sharpay over, awkwardly patting her body randomly.

_I really should have gone to those lifeguard training classes..._

She knew enough to check Sharpay's pulse. She discovered Sharpay was alive but beyond that she knew nothing, her patting not really achieving anything.

She looked at Sharpay's face as her eyes fluttered open.

Sharpay groaned and opened her eyes fully. She immediately recoiled from Gabriella with a look of complete disgust on her face.

"Erm... thanks," Gabriella said, uncertain of how to handle the situation.

"For what?" Sharpay sneered.

"For saving me?!"

"Wasn't intentional."

"What?!"

"I... did-n't...me-an...to...sa-ve...y-ou," Sharpay spelled out for her.

"Look screw you bitch."

"Oh you wish you whore."

By this time both girls were on their feet and stalking towards each other.

"Try me you worthless Ice Queen."

"Oh bring it you Freaky Math Girl."

They were now nose-to-nose, snarling into each others faces.

"Goon!"

"That the best you can do Freak?"

"Whore!"

"I already said that one."

"I don't care."

"Fuck you."

Then Gabriella did the last thing Sharpay had expected. She lent forwards and crashed her lips against her own.

Then Sharpay did the last thing Gabriella expected. She kissed back.

**And that is where ****I**** leave this chapter. I really have to get off this computer now coz my parents are getting shouty but please review and help me improve this story****. Also if you have anything you want me to work into a chapter I can do just as long as you ask for it otherwise I will never know what you guys want... if that makes sense.**

**Basically: - ask and you shall probably receive. Apart from if you ask for money because I'm kinda skint.**

**Please review.**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	3. The Last Night

**Thank you for all the reviews for the trailer and the last chapter! I got a C2 add! Big thanks go to xdude.im.FAMOUSx for adding this story to her All about femslash c2! Also big thanks to all the people who have this story on their alerts and favourites... my mind is actually blown at how popular this story is... wow...**

**Now on with the story. ****And**** sorry, but ****I**** have to jump ahead in time a bit. I would love to write everyday in the summer that Gabriella and Sharpay spent together but ****I**** can't because that isn't the direction ****I**** want this story to go in****. So I'm afraid that it's time to go back to school for all our favourite Wildcats...**

Gabriella pulled away from Sharpay, gasping for air.

"Shar..." she managed to say through her moans as Sharpay nibbled on her neck. "Sharpay!"

The power her voice held made Sharpay stop and look up into her eyes.

"We seriously need to talk."

Sharpay frowned. She hated talking. Talking usually led to thinking and thinking about what they were doing didn't bond well with Sharpay. She loved this happening, getting swept up in the passion of the moment was part of the thrill for her. But when you add thinking into the equation, the passion tends to fade and with it went the thrill.

Gabriella looked down at her frowning lover. Her eyes were drawn away by the sound of her front door slamming. She lent forward to leave a parting peck on Sharpay's lips. She let a small smile spread across her lips as the frown turned into the blonde's signature pout as she was forced away from Gabriella. Gabriella was forced to hold Sharpay at arms length to stop her from latching back onto her. When Sharpay seemed to calm she let her arms fall to her sides.

"Hey Gaby," her mum shouted up the stairs. "Are you home?"

Gabriella opened her mouth to answer but Sharpay had other ideas. As soon as the brunette's lips parted, Sharpay pounced forward to capture her love in her arms and to crash their lips together. Her mouth already being open only made it easier for Sharpay to deepen the kiss. Gabriella only struggled for a moment before surrendering herself to Sharpay. Her pushing hands slackened in their futile battle and instead slid down from Sharpay's shoulders to rest on her hips. She let herself be pulled into the warmth of Sharpay's body as she felt a passion unlike any other she had felt before wash over her, blinding her to the outside world. Their tongues met and wrestled in a battle that, in both the girls' minds, was one to rival the great wars of Rome.

Footsteps could be heard outside the room but neither girl heard them. They only heard the faint metallic shriek of the old door handle as it was twisted. Both girls froze in their positions. Gabriella withdrew her tongue from Sharpay's mouth and started to pull away when the muffled ringing of the home phone could be heard. Gabriella breathed a sigh of relief as the door handle returned to its original position and footsteps could be heard shuffling down the stairs. They both heard a soft "Hello" as the ringing stopped and both of them knew they were safe for the moment.

Gabriella rested her forehead on Sharpay's and looked on as her lover smiled. "That's my Nan," Gabriella felt the need to explain. "She always rings at this time. She could talk for hours without my mum even saying a syllable."

"So we're safe then?" Sharpay said through smiling lips.

"For at least another 3 hours," Gabriella said, smiling back.

"Good."

Sharpay lent forward, trying to continue the kiss that had been so unnecessarily interrupted a moment ago. Gabriella was more than willing to pick up where they left off until she remembered that they desperately needed to talk. However, when she saw Sharpay's lips drawing closer to her, she just couldn't resist.

Their passion consumed them both, eventually building enough to fill the room and leave both girls sated. But not for too long.

* * *

As Gabriella lay on her side, watching her blonde bombshell peacefully dozing, she let her mind wander to thoughts of tomorrow and the possible dangers it could bring. As all those thoughts came to a head, Gabriella remembered why she thought them. 

She reached out her hand to rouse Sharpay from her slumber. For a moment, she just let her hand rest there, on Sharpay's breast plate. She drank in the sight of her hand against Sharpay's supple flesh, appreciating fully for the first time the contrast between the coco and ivory colour of their skins.

"Gabs..." she heard Sharpay whisper. She let her eyes travel up to look into Sharpay's which were now wide open. Sharpay saw the unshed tears that were gathered in Gabriella's eyes and she felt her heart break. She sat up, holding the sheet to her chest so it remained covering her. She put her arm around Gabriella's shoulders and the other girl just collapsed into her, resting her head on her shoulder and snaking both her arms around Sharpay's stomach. Unlike Sharpay, she didn't try to preserve her own modesty and so she didn't care when the sheet fell from her shoulders.

Sharpay held her lover with one hand while she used the other to bring the sheet up to cover both their bodies. When the sheet had been pulled up and was resting over both of them, Sharpay's hands met to hold Gabriella around her shoulders like she was holding Sharpay around her waist. Sharpay shifted her weight slightly and used her newly gained leverage to pull Gabriella to her more.

Gabriella felt Sharpay pull her and rolled with it into a new position so she was half lying on Sharpay with her head still resting on her shoulder. She had to remove her hands from around Sharpay's waist so she brought one up to rest on Sharpay's chest like it had done before and used the other one to push Sharpay's arm, making her hold her to her tighter.

She nuzzled into Sharpay's soft neck and cried out all her troubles.

Sharpay felt each teardrop fall onto her skin. Gabriella body shook next to her as her body heaved with silent sobs. Sharpay lowered one of her hands to tenderly rub Gabriella's lower back while the other stayed on her shoulder, also gently rubbing in an effort to sooth the distressed girl. But there was nothing she could do but be there to hold the crying girl.

After a few minutes, the sobs began to calm into small whimpers and Sharpay thought it right to speak. "Gabs," she started, testing the waters so to speak. She took Gabriella not bursting out into tears as a sign to continue. "Gabs... I know baby... I know."

Gabriella looked up at Sharpay and Sharpay looked down into that tear-streaked face and felt her soul melt. An unspoken agreement passed through that intense stare, an agreement that both girls understood loud and clear.

Never again could this happen.

Never.

As the finality of that word sunk in for both girls, they each subconsciously squeezed the other tighter, never wanting to let go. But they knew they would have to. Neither wanted this night or this summer to end. When it ended, everything would change.

But change cannot be stopped. Just like the rising of the sun, change is inevitable.

So they made the best of the time they had. And that they most definitely did, but they went about it silently. You see they had had a whole summer to learn to be quiet. It was now a habit for them. Such was their fear of being caught that even when no-one could possibly hear them they were silent as church mice.

The fear of getting caught, of doing something so taboo they would be punished for it, that was what made up the rest of thrill of what they were doing. Both of them had never experienced anything like this before. It had changed them. Gabriella's personality had rubbed off on Sharpay and vice-versa. Sharpay was now nicer and more considerate of other people's feelings, and Gabriella was a little more thick-skinned.

A change was noticeable in both girls, a change that was indeed noticed by all around them.

**Yeah I know it's a little short but I didn't know what else to put...**

**I might edit this chapter later on but for now it's late...**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	4. The First Day

**Ok so long over view... which may be long, or not... ****I'm**** not quite sure...**

**You see ****I**** have an idea for something in about two chapters' time so until then ****I'm**** making it up as ****I**** go along...**

"Hey Shar!" Ryan called out to his twin. "Wait up!"

Ryan jogged up to the side of his sister's car which to his surprise had stopped. He looked at her, sat there in her silver Lotus Elise convertible with the top down and her hair flowing down over her shoulders.

Ryan did a double take as he stopped by the car's passenger door. Two things were wrong with this picture; 1) his sister was sat in her silver Lotus, not her pink Mercedes and 2) his sister had the top down with her hair down as well.

Neither of these things however, stopped him from opening the car door and climbing into the plush leather seat. But they did cause him to sit there with his mouth wide open. He sat there with that facial expression for over five minutes until Sharpay sighed and decided to indulge her twin. "You know if you sit there like that for any longer," Sharpay tossed to him, eyes still on the road. "You're guna catch flies."

As if on some unseen cue, a fly chose that moment to get in the path of the silver car and get caught up in the air currents of the car, which propelled him straight into the mouth of one Ryan Evans who had chosen not to take his sister's timely advice.

When Ryan started to choke, Sharpay allowed herself a smirk. "Told ya," she said smugly to herself, her brother to busy coughing and spluttering to care.

* * *

"Gabi!"

Gabriella heard the voice and froze. She turned to look at her boyfriend and plastered a smile on her face. "Troy!"

"How are you?" he said, smiling warmly and taking her into his arms. "I haven't seen you for so long."

"Yeah sorry about that," she said whilst being slightly suffocated by the grasp he had around her lithe body. He didn't seem to notice the half-hearted squeeze she gave back. He pulled away from her and looked down at her with smiling eyes.

She smiled her plastic smile back and found she couldn't hold his gaze. She looked down and immediately felt a hand on her chin, forcing it up to look into his eyes once more. "What's up?" he asked her sincerely. She found she couldn't hold them back anymore, the tears that had gathered every time she had been with Sharpay which she had never let fall.

She let them fall now.

It had been so easy over the summer. She had told Troy some story about how some relative three times removed from the family had died and she had to go to the funeral or something. No-one had died of course, and she had felt terrible for lying to her boyfriend, but being with Sharpay had made everything in the world feel alright again. Those nights they spent together were the best times of her life. She had never wanted them to end. She didn't want to go back to reality. But she had to.

She thought back to last night. She had woken up to find her bed empty, like it usually was the morning after. Every time she was left to wander if Sharpay was ok, if she had gotten home safely and how she managed to get up so early. Gabriella herself got up this morning at 7a.m after dozing since 6. She didn't even want to think about what time her lover had got up.

_No! Not lover! Gabriella stop doing that to yourself... you remember last night... never again..._

She had started to calm down, the tears caused by lying to Troy beginning to run dry. Now they again flowed like a river when reality sunk in for her for the fifth time today. Every time reality sunk in, it went away again after a few minutes when Gabriella would allow herself to drift into a daydream about the nights they would share. Then there would be something to remind her again...

Troy just stood there, leaning on the bank of lockers for support, his girlfriend sobbing into his shoulder. He caught the sight of a confused Chad and shrugged at his best friend with the one shoulder that didn't have a crying girl on it.

Chad shrugged back, not really getting girls anymore. He then turned and started round the corner. If only he had been looking where he was going instead of at the drama bulletin board. He turned the corner and crashed into an equally distracted Ryan Evans. Chad was knocked off of his feet by the drama king and looked up at him in astonishment. He couldn't comprehend how the other boy had knocked him from his feet.

Ryan looked down, astonished at what he had done. He immediately lent forward to offer a hand to the embarrassed jock. Chad took it and let Ryan pull him up. He felt the boy's breath on his face and realised how close he was to the other boy. He let his eyes wander from those sapphire eyes down to those ruby red lips. He stared at them for a moment before becoming suddenly aware of what seemed to be the entire student body staring at them. He blushed before shoving Ryan away from him.

It was the first day of school after summer; he had an impression to impress on the new freshmen.

Sharpay strode up next to Ryan just in time to see Chad shove her twin away from him. She stepped forward and opened her mouth, already forming the shouts in her throat. Fortunately for Chad, the steps she took forwards to shout in his face took her round the corner.

A voice drifted to her ears, the voice of an angel. The sadness she heard in that voice made her turn to look in the direction she had heard it from. Her heart broke when she saw her lover stood there with red eyes and sniffly nose. Both Chad and Ryan forgotten, she marched towards the only girl she saw. Everyone and everything else faded into the background as all she saw was Gabriella. She didn't hear the bell ring and took no notice of the students shuffling around, trying to avoid going to class, trying to hold on to those last precious moments of summertime. No students were stupid enough to get in her way, the freshmen taking a cue from the other students around them to steer clear of the blonde girl.

Gabriella saw her blonde girl walking towards her and again reality faded away. Her eyes lit up with an unknown fire as soon as she set eyes on the other girl. The tears that had been rolling down her cheeks immediately stopped. Sharpay marched right up to her and enveloped her in her arms, clutching her to her tightly. Both girls travelled to cloud nine with the physical contact they shared. It created an electricity that charged both girls, making their hearts beat faster and their breath quicken.

Then Sharpay's surroundings came into focus and with it her earth came crashing down around her. She saw Troy staring at her and Gabriella open mouthed.

_Troy, yeah you remember him... as in Gabriella's boyfriend Troy..._

Sharpay searched her mind for a way to play this situation without revealing everything that had happened this summer that had ended this summer. Then it came to her.

She pulled away from Gabriella with a really obviously fake smile on her face. "Hey Gabriella!" she said, putting on a fake completely blonde tone, trying to show everybody that she didn't mean a thing she said. She just hoped Gabriella would catch on and play along. "I haven't seen you in like forever!"

Luckily, the brunette did catch on. "Oh my gosh I know!" she replied. "I love what you have done with you're hair!"

"And I love what you've done with you're..." Sharpay pretended to search for something to compliment. _The way her hair falls over her face, masking her eyes and making her look absolutely stunning... the way her eyes glitter, even though they are red with crying... the way she smelled when she was wrapped in my arms... Shake it off Sharpay, she isn't __yours__ an__ymore... _"You're... face."

Gabriella faked a laugh before saying, "We really must catch up sometime!"

"Oh totally!" Sharpay said with accompanying hand gesture. She lent forward to air kiss Gabriella before walking away from her towards Ryan and Chad who were a mirror image of Troy.

"Bitch," she muttered when she walked past them.

"Whore" Gabriella muttered when she walked into Troy's arms.

"What was all that?" he asked her.

"I have no idea," she said. "It's Sharpay, who knows what goes on inside that girls head?"

She smiled up at him and gave him a chaste kiss before she let him go to go to class, muttering some excuse about needing something from her locker.

* * *

"What was that Shar?" Ryan asked his twin.

"The start of something new Ry," she said to him with a more believable yet still fake smile.

Ryan looked over at Chad. Chad just shrugged at him when he shot him a questioning glance. Both boys turned to go to homeroom before noticing that Sharpay was no longer with them. Ryan back tracked and yelled down the corridor at Sharpay.

"Shar! Homeroom is that way! Where you going?"

"Bathroom Ry," she yelled back, not even turning back to look at him.

Ryan rolled his eyes before turning to walk to homeroom with Chad, only to find that Troy had now caught up with them.

* * *

Sharpay walked down the corridor. She walked until her vision was too blurred and out of focus to see where she was going. She felt the cold harsh reality sink into her bones and her soul.

She dropped to the floor, not even wanting to stand anymore. There was no-one in the halls but even if there were she wouldn't have cared. All that had mattered to her had gone.

She stayed curled up in the foetal position on the floor for a long time. As it was the first day, everyone had an extended registration period so she was left undisturbed on the waxy floor.

She only rose to her feet when the sound of a bell ringing cut through her brooding. She picked herself up before anyone got a chance to enter the hallway and see her on the floor. She stood tall, utilising all her years of acting training to make herself into her Ice Queen persona. She stood with her head held high in the air and strutted through the younger kids to the front doors of the school before pushing them open and walking out, leaving a few open-mouthed freshmen behind her having amazed them with her power of walking out of school on the first day before they even had any lessons.

* * *

Gabriella slammed her locker door shut as soon as she was sure that Troy was far enough away not to hear. She smashed her clenched fist into the metal of the door and found she felt nothing. She looked down at her hand and watched as the red blood started to spread across her knuckles from where her skin had split in-between her first and second knuckle. She continued to watch it spread with a slightly puzzled expression on her face while she let reality once again seep into her brain and to cover her rose-tinted vision of the world she had at the moment. The illusion she had conjured up of her and Sharpay being together shattered as did her heart.

She sank down the lockers until she was in a roughly sitting position with her back to the lockers. That was the way she stayed for however long it was until she faintly heard a bell ring and she rose to her feet and brushed herself off. She picked herself up and did nothing to disguise her bleeding hand. She walked through the steadily filling hallways to the front entrance. She pushed the doors open and walked past into the car park, not noticing the few open-mouthed freshmen that were watching her go.

The strangest thing was that ever since the two girls had touched, neither of them had cried a single tear, nor had any tears gathered in their eyes. Neither of them realised it but the pain that ran to deep to be expressed in any way, the pain they shared at being separated was the one thing that connected them to each other.

**Not much of an over-view I know but that was the set-up for the over-view if you get what I mean.**

**What'cha think? Any good? **

**Please review.**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	5. The Special Spot

Sharpay sat on the soft green grass that was on the clearing beside the lake. She stared into the inky blackness of the water, hypnotised.

Almost sub-consciously, she got to her feet and walked to the little sandy shore that surrounded the side of the lake she was on. Her eyes were glazed over, staring blankly into the still waters. She paused for only a moment before continuing forward, letting the water swallow her. She seemed not to notice when someone yelled her name.

* * *

Gabriella stopped her black VW Beatle after skilfully pulling into a parking spot on the gravelly surface of the park's car park. She opened the door and let the fresh autumn air hit her face. Her skin welcomed the coolness of the air gratefully. It cooled her burning face, making her sigh.

She surveyed her surroundings, taking in the scenery. She looked up at the trees that surrounded the car park. She smiled, remembering the first time she had seen the same sight she saw now. She felt a strange warmth creep over her body, a warmth that came from the thought of one person in particular.

She felt elation as she remembered the other view of those same trees she had gotten from the small clearing that lay just beyond them. She smiled as she remembered what had happened when she had gotten that view.

_Ah damn... pull it together Gabi..._

But she didn't see why she should. For once she let her heart rule her head, ignoring the cries of her brain, cries which told her to close the door of the car, start the engine and return to school and Troy. Instead she chose to listen to her heart which told her to stay where she was, in the park and to go to their special spot then to return to school to Sharpay. Well... at least the first part sounded good. She realised the second part was just pure fantasy on her part.

She sighed again, trying to resist the pull of reality, trying to stay in her memories.

Her memories of her.

She breathed in and swore she could smell her perfume. She smiled as she remembered her smile and those cute little wrinkles she got around her eyes that let her know that she was smiling without even having to look at her lips. Those rosy red lips... That smile turned into a smirk as she remembered the time she had made her laugh and milk had started to come out of her nose and when they had spent the whole day here, just sitting in silence. And then there was the way her blonde hair tickled her thighs.

She allowed herself to linger for a moment on that last particular memory before shaking her head when she realised that that memory would not leave without any help. She stepped from the car, loving the feeling of the air tinted with a slight chill washing over her body. She unconsciously closed the door and locked the air. The air with that faint hint of her perfume was like a drug to her, so intoxicating that she barely registered the beep of the central locking system of her beloved car.

She started towards the trees and the hidden clearing that lay beyond them. She thought of how all of this had started, seemingly years ago. Gabriella wished that years had passed since the summer and that her and Sharpay had grown old together and this was all just some bad dream...

A smirk flickered across her face, momentarily disrupting the contented smile that had been on her face since she had first smelled her on the air. Or at least she thought she smelled her, it was probably just her mind playing tricks...

She thought back, conjuring up the image of Sharpay unconscious on the floor. But with that memory came the feeling she had had at that exact moment. She couldn't help but gasp as fear washed over her, over running her mind. Her heart started beating fast in shock and she had to take a moment to calm herself. To go from blissful ignorance to rabbit-caught-in-the-headlights-of-an-eighteen-wheeler fear in a split second could have the effect of robbing a person of breath. She lent against one of the trees.

Such fear was crippling to a person. Gabriella had to remind herself that it was only a memory. Then her eyes wandered to the clearing that lead to the lake. There was already some-one there, sat bang in the middle of the grass. She watched as the figure rose. She had no idea who it was due to the black hoodie they were wearing.

_Wait a minute... that hoodie seems familiar..._

Gabriella moved through the trees to stand on the edges of the grass. She frowned as the person walked to the edge of the lake that the clearing was at the side of. She was going to yell out to the person to stop but they did anyway. She nearly breathed a sigh of relief until they started walking again. That was when a wind blew up and a lock of blonde hair escaped the confines of the hood.

Gabriella gasped as it all fitted together in her head. She broke into a run as she spared a split second to mentally scald herself. Of course she remembered the hoodie!!! How many times had she seen Sharpay wearing it? She should have remembered sooner.

She mentally kicked herself as she ran. "Sharpay!" she yelled as loud as she could through all the running. Still the blonde waded in, ruining both her Levi's and Gucci boots. This made Gabriella stop dead. Sure Sharpay had changed due to spending most of summer in the company of Gabriella, but she still hadn't changed **that **much. Gabriella thought about shouting out again but decided against it, thinking that if it didn't work the first time, it was highly unlikely to ever work with Sharpay involved. So she put all her energy into running instead.

Gabriella was so glad she had decided to wear her Converse's today as opposed to her favourite pair of red heels which Sharpay had brought her during the summer. They repeatedly hit the grass with such force that the grass stayed flat against the ground.

Not that Gabriella noticed or anything. All she was focused on was reaching Sharpay.

She had never run so far in such a short time in her young life. Gabriella had never been one for running but now she pushed herself forwards, covering the hundred metres from the trees to the water in a time that would have put a cheetah to shame.

She reached the water and was frozen by fear. She just stood there as Sharpay's head disappeared underneath the black water. A chill of fear ran through her, starting at her spine and working its way through her entire body. The chill stopped.

Everything stopped.

The pleasant chill that had been in the air turning into a bitter coldness that wormed its way into her skin to freeze her body.

Her heart stopped.

She couldn't breathe.

She couldn't think.

Still she stood there, watching, as the last trace of Sharpay's blonde hair disappeared underneath the pitch-black water...

Then everything resumed. She took in a deep breath, not thinking about what she was about to do. She ran forward into the water and, as soon as the water was deep enough to allow it, dove forward, using her arms and hands and legs and feet to push the water away from her. Her hand stung but she ignored it. Again she focused only on one thing, one girl, her love.

_Sharpay._

She found that opening her eyes to try to see achieved nothing. The only way she knew her eyes were open was that the slightly salty water of the lake stung them. 

She kicked with her feet in the vague direction she thought Sharpay was. She abandoned pushing the water past her with her hands, using them instead grope around wildly. She ignored her burning lungs and continued her blind search, her arm movements becoming more and more frenzied as the slow seconds dragged on.

Her hand closed around something that felt like someone's arm and she relaxed, letting the natural buoyancy of her body lift her to the surface. She broke the surface and gulped down the fresh air of the park.

_Never has oxygen tasted so sweet._

She opened her eyes, the salt of the water continuing to sting her eyes as it dripped down from her hair. She brought her hand up and looked at what she held. Her heart dropped.

A doll.

_A fucking doll!!!_

Anger filled her, driving away the fear she had felt for what felt like forever. She dropped the doll, immediately not sparing it any more of her attention. She didn't watch as the one-eyed, favourite toy of a little girl sank once again into the black waters and ultimately the sticky mud at the bottom of the lake where it had been ever since the little blonde girl had dropped it. The little blond girl who had now grown into a big blonde teenager who was now seemingly on her way to join her doll.

* * *

Sharpay tried to breathe, but instead of air, water entered her lungs. She tried to open her eyes but was rewarded with nothing but pain. She trashed around wildly, trying to find out if anything was around her. She found her movements sluggish and concluded she was in water. With that realisation came her memories.

It had been like she had been watching herself walk into the lake. She saw everything but had been powerless to stop it.

Unconsciousness pulled at her, willing her into its cold embrace. What could she do? She had no resistance. She had decided to try to fight against herself too late...

* * *

Gabriella looked around franticly, barely keeping her rising hysteria under check. Her anger had gone with the doll, panic taking over once again. Her heart was in her throat as she saw a limp body bob to the surface face down not ten metres away from her.

Before Gabriella's brain had time to process the fact that Sharpay was face down in the water, limp and evidently not breathing, she was beside her.

She turned the body over in the water and felt her heart pound against her ribs as her eyed took in the sight of her blue-faced lover. A small part of her had held onto the hope that it wasn't Sharpay, that even though the person had blonde hair and was wearing the same hoodie as Sharpay always kept with her it wasn't her.

Gabriella didn't waste a moment, grabbing Sharpay's arm and swimming back to shore with her in tow. She hadn't realised they had gotten so far away from the bank. She closed her eyes and put all her energy into pushing the water past her as quickly as she could whilst still keeping in a fairly straight line.

She tried not to count the passing seconds in her head. She failed. She got to thirty three before her hand hit the bank. She moved round the edge of the bank until she reached the shore. She cursed herself for not being able to swim straight. With her eyes open, she had been swimming directly for the shore. But with her eyes closed, she had lost her sense of direction and had veered to the left.

She stumbled up the shore, dragging Sharpay behind her. She silently thanked anyone and everyone for her taking those lifeguard first aid classes. She felt for a pulse and found one. But it was weak, very, very weak. It still made her heart flutter with hope. But Sharpay still wasn't breathing. She immediately launched into a CPR routine she had been taught at the aforementioned classes.

She opened Sharpay's mouth and checked it for anything. She lowered her head after taking a deep breath and breathed out into her lover's open empty mouth. Then she pumped her chest and counted under her breath. She did this multiple times with no result. She tried one last time, the breathing into her mouth turning into a heated kiss that wasn't returned. Gabriella drew back in horror almost immediately. Those lips which were usually so red and sweet were now blue and bitter to her.

She started to cry. She didn't want to and she hadn't felt like she needed to but now they had started she couldn't stop them. The salty tears ran down her face, mingling with the salty water from the lake. She pumped at Sharpay's chest again and again even though she knew nothing would come of it. She felt for a pulse and none. Still she kept pushing at her chest, willing it to resume its function of pumping blood around her love's cold body.

After thirty seconds, the futility of her actions sunk in and she withdrew into herself. She sunk into depression faster than you could blink. The thought of a life without Sharpay near her, holding her, talking to her... it was all too much.

_How __could she leave me?_

With this thought came anger. It was essentially what Sharpay had done; she had left her to lead a life with Troy, she had given up on them and the love they had for each other.

Gabriella raised her fist and pounded it into Sharpay's chest. Hard. How dare she leave her! How dare she give up on them! HOW DARE SHE!!!

Again and again Gabriella brought her fist down. On the tenth time it happened, Sharpay let out a watery splutter. She sat up immediately and reached up all the water that had been in her lungs.

Gabriella sat there stunned at what had just happened. She stared at the back of Sharpay's head, letting her emotions calm inside her. She had gone through so many emotions in the past five minutes that she didn't know what to feel.

Sharpay, having got most if not all of the water out of her lungs, flopped back onto the shore. She turned to look up at a blank faced Gabriella. She wasn't all that surprised to see her. She somehow knew that if anyone was going to save her, it would be her, and she was never more thankful of the connection they shared. 

Suddenly everything fit together in her mind; the strange feeling she got whenever she was near the dark haired beauty, the way that even amongst a crowded corridor of people she was the only one she was able to hear above all others and the way her head tingled when she was near her.

She loved her.

She managed a weak smile at Gabriella who was still sat there, showing no emotion at all. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and swivelled her hips so she sat face-to-face with the other girl. She reached out to hold Gabriella's face in her hands. She leaned in to place a chaste kiss on those lips. She drew back and locked her eyes onto those brown pools she decided she couldn't go a day without looking into.

"I love you," she whispered simply.

Gabriella felt her heart soar. She had decided long ago that she loved Sharpay even though she knew she was probably just letting herself in for heart ache. But she had always had hope- hope that the blonde loved her back. What had started as just sex for both girls had grown into something more. Well it had fro her anyway. And she wasn't the one who had spent most of the summer arranging their little meetings. So she had always had hope.

Out of all the emotions swirling inside Gabriella, one shone through; love.

She leapt forward, knocking Sharpay back to the grass. She captured the other girl's lips with her own and was pleased to find the life and sweetness returned to them. She felt the same jubilation she had felt the first time their lips had met in that locker room months ago.

She paused only for breath and to whisper softly in Sharpay's ear, "I love you too."

Sharpay smiled and rolled them both over so she was now on top, straddling Gabriella's hips. "I'm sorry it took me so long to realise it," Sharpay said, leaning forward on her arms until she was again face-to-face with the other girl.

Gabriella opened her mouth top answer when a droplet of water fell from Sharpay face to land with a small splash on her cheek. She changed what she was going to say, "We really need to get dried off."

Sharpay was about to protest when a gust of wind rustled the trees and washed over the two girls. What had started out as a pleasant chill was changed by their drenched clothes into a cold that chilled them to the bone.

Sharpay somewhat begrudgingly got off Gabriella and lay next to her. The sun emerged from behind a cloud to immediately combat the chill they felt. Both girls shivered from the sudden warmth at exactly the same time.

"You know..." Sharpay said with a smirk. "With the sun shining on us like this..."

Gabriella groaned. She knew where this was going.

"It's only going to dry our clothes, not us."

"What about people?" Gabriella argued, not really feeling comfortable with the idea of being naked in such a public place. "This isn't exactly the most private of places."

"How many cars were in the car park?" Sharpay asked her casually, seemingly changing the subject whilst she raised herself onto her elbows.

"None," Gabriella answered, puzzled.

"And is it or is it not school time?"

"It is."

Sharpay lent back to lie on the green grass with her hands forming a pillow underneath her head. "I therefore rest my case," she sighed.

Gabriella smirked, finally getting the point of Sharpay's questions. Her smirk grew to the point it was nearly splitting her face in half when she saw an opportunity to put Sharpay in her place.

She rose to her feet and ran her hand down to the waistband of her jeans, popping her button free. She then brought that hand up to the hem of her shirt and the other hand down to join it. She pulled the soaking wet garment over her head, dropping it rather unceremoniously to the grass by her feet.

She unzipped her jeans and wiggled her hips until her jeans were around her ankles. She stepped out of them, towards Sharpay, continuously smirking at the open-mouthed blonde. Even though she had suggested it, Sharpay had never actually thought Gabriella would do it. Gabriella had known Sharpay would think this and so went for the shock factor.

Sharpay looked up at Gabriella and Gabriella swore she was drooling. Then Sharpay looked her in the eyes and just smiled. Gabriella stared back into those smiling brown eyes, countering them with her confused, questioning eyes.

"Just remembering the first time I was here with you..." Sharpay said, looking off into the distance past Gabriella.

Gabriella giggled as the memory came back to her through the haze that the current situation had brought to her vision.

Taking that as a cue, Sharpay stood and walked towards Gabriella. She kissed her softly and gently lowered her to the grass. As soon as Gabriella's back hit the grass, Sharpay got back to her feet and began her own striptease.

When she was down to her underwear, same as Gabriella, she sat down again straddling the dark haired girl's hips. She reached down to her shoulders, using the leverage she had to pull her up into a sitting position beneath her. Gabriella kissed her passionately, moaning into her mouth as Sharpay started to grind her hips against Gabriella's.

Gabriella's answer to that was to reach behind Sharpay and to undo her bra, letting it drop to the grass on top of her shirt. She then pushed the blonde off her onto her back. She followed only a second later.

Sharpay gasped. She whispered in her lover's ear, "I love it that you found my special spot." She then realised how that sounded and tried to rectify the sentence. But Gabriella knew what she meant, that didn't mean she couldn't smirk at the innuendo though.

"I know baby," Gabriella whispered back. "I just hope I'm the only one who gets to find it..."

**Sorry but I'm no good at sex scenes... though if you really want me to I'll try to write one.**

**Please review**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	6. The Slip of the Tongue, The Bitter End

**Yeah ****I**** know ****I**** said ****I'd**** do an overview... so here it is.**

The next few days at school were hard for both girls. They had both decided that even though it was wrong, they would continue doing it. And they both promised each other no-one could know. So that was why it was hard. It wasn't hard for either of the girls to partake in their little adulterous relationship- it was just hard for them to hide it.

Gabriella actually surprised Sharpay by being the one who was always dragging _her _away at lunch times to go to various closets and bathrooms around the school. Soon it became something akin to a FBI operation, with the girls sneaking away every opportunity they could but still being careful not to rouse anyone's suspicions. They never went to the same bathroom twice in a week, and even alternated weeks between hiding away in bathrooms and closets.

The warning bell sounded as Gabriella pushed herself away from Sharpay, letting the other girl smooth the various wrinkles, of which there were many, out of her skirt while she readjusted her shirt.

"Is that the warning bell?" Sharpay asked.

"Yep," Gabriella said, still readjusting her shirt so it covered her stomach. She spared Sharpay a glance, noticing something that would most definitely make people suspicious on her upper thigh. "Err... Shar...?"

"What?" Sharpay asked, looking up from readjusting her skirt. Her blonde hair fell from behind her ears to cover some of her face. Sharpay made a face and tried to secure the strands back behind her ear but they just refused to stay, falling again but this time taking more hair with it. Sharpay let out a growl and straightened her back to again try to secure her hair behind her ear. This time it worked and the blonde let a smug smirk spread across her lips at her little victory over her hair. But as soon as Sharpay doubled over again to check her skirt, most of the hair she had tucked behind her ear fell over her face. Gabriella watched this all and chuckled softly to herself as she took a step towards the other girl to help her with her troubles. She gently pushed the girl so her back was straight against the wall before dropping to her knees to help her with her skirt.

While her hands were busy smoothing out Sharpay's skirt, Gabriella let her eyes wander across the girls milky white thighs, drinking in the sight of them. Then her eyes washed over the only blemish to that perfect skin. Admittedly the blemish was her fault but that didn't stop her from frowning about it spoiling her lover's perfect skin.

On the inside of Sharpay's left thigh was a deep red lipstick mark from Gabriella's own lips. She reached for it and gently wiped it, hoping it would disappear that easily.

It didn't.

Gabriella sighed and ignored Sharpay when she asked about what she was up to down there. She lent forward and kissed the mark softly. She heard Sharpay breathe out shakily and looked up to devilishly smirk at her. She lent forwards once more and now licked the mark before pulling away to see if it had now vanished.

It still hadn't.

Gabriella lent forward for the third and final time to suck on that spot on Sharpay's leg, effectively removing the mark but now giving the girls a whole new problem to worry about.

Gabriella pulled away to find the lipstick gone but now there was a small yet rapidly growing love bite in its place. She frowned deeply and looked up at Sharpay to find the girl looking at the ceiling of the closet with her eyes glazed over. Gabriella's frown turned into a smirk as she rose from her knees.

_Damn I'm good..._

"Sharpay," she whispered into the groggy girl's ear. "We got a problem."

"Problem?" Sharpay whisper shouted, ever mindful of the school environment they were in. There is a reason people say walls have ears after all. "I thought we agreed never to use the P word! There can never be circumstances worthy of the P word!"

Gabriella's face fell. She knew that they should never use the P word. The game they were playing was too dangerous for there to be P word situation. A P word could mean the end of the game, and neither girl wanted that.

Sharpay somewhat roughly pushed Gabriella from her and looked down at her left thigh. "Shit Gabriella!"

There was no more whisper shouting, it was now more like shouting shouting and Gabriella had no choice but to try to silence the other girl with her hand. But Sharpay, the stubborn bitch that she sometimes was, pushed her hand away. "No!" Sharpay shouted at her. She lowered her voice as she carried on now that she had made her point. "Gabriella! We can't make mistakes! All it takes is one mistake and then people will find out!"

Gabriella looked down at the floor, knowing everything Sharpay said was true. She studied the various cleaning equipment that was scattered seemingly randomly over the floor of the closet they were in before she felt a slight pull on her chin. She let Sharpay pull her chin up so they looked into each other's eyes. She watched as Sharpay smiled softly at her. She knew that look, she was about to try to rectify the little argument with some form of comic relief. She prepared herself to roll her eyes.

"Cause lets face it," Sharpay started, still smiling softly at Gabriella and looking dead on into her eyes. "The two hottest girls in school, revealed as lesbians? With each other? That story's gunna spread like wildfire."

Gabriella surprised both herself and Sharpay by not rolling her eyes but letting out a giggle. "Who are you and what have you done with my Gabriella?" Sharpay immediately asked.

"Your Gabriella?" Gabriella asked teasingly, the giggles having stopped.

Sharpay's face immediately fell. What had been meant as a little feminist quip was taken as such but the meaning behind it made Sharpay think.

_She's not yours Shar... she won't ever be yours..._

Gabriella realised the meaning behind what she said as soon as the words had left her mouth. She immediately wished she could take it back, to erase the past 30 seconds of this conversation. But she couldn't.

That was the truth of their situation. They weren't a couple; they weren't each other's girls. And they could never be together. Not while they were at school anyway...

Gabriella had Troy and Sharpay kind of had Zeke. That was the way it was meant to be. That was the society told them to be. That was the way it had to be.

The closet fell into an uncomfortable silence which was only broken by the ringing of the bell and the consequent stirring of students.

"Come on," Gabriella said, welcoming the distraction from the awkwardness of the silence both girls had lapsed into. "We should get to registration."

She turned to leave but was stopped by a small voice that came from behind her. "Erm, Gabi," Sharpay said softly. "I think that's the bell to signal fifth period."

"Badger!" Gabriella swore. She didn't like swearing so came up with alternative words to use in such situations when certain four letter words were needed. It was one of her good habits that hadn't rubbed off on Sharpay. "We've been in here all lunch?"

Sharpay only nodded. "We could just stay here...?" Gabriella half-heartedly suggested, wanting to make up for the slip on the tongue incident earlier.

Sharpay shook her head, "We've got double drama. Darbus would eat us."

Gabriella let out a heavy sigh. She walked to the door and listened intently. Upon hearing no noise of movement she cracked the door open slightly to check that the coast was clear. She stepped out, motioning behind her for Sharpay to follow.

Unseen by Gabriella, Sharpay rolled her eyes. She made a last minute check to her outfit and pushed past Gabriella who was still standing in the doorway. She didn't even look at the dark haired beauty as she strutted down the corridor in true Sharpay style. Gabriella rushed after her, trying to get her to look at her so she could try to apologise again for saying what she said. But it was no use, the shield of ice was up full. Nuclear bombs couldn't get through that shield, let alone Gabriella's pathetic pleas.

Sharpay made her grand entrance into the drama studio, pushing both doors open at once.

Big mistake.

The entire drama class turned just in time to see Gabriella run in after Sharpay. Sharpay carried on, unaffected and seeming not to care, while Gabriella froze on the spot. She looked around at all the turned heads, most with open mouths. She looked from person to person, most of them being nameless faces that she saw everyday, but didn't make eye contact with any of them. That was, until she got to a certain blue eyed, dirty blonde haired guy who was meant to be her boyfriend. She looked into piercing blue eyes that she thought saw into her soul. She hoped they didn't. She really hoped they didn't because then he could see things she didn't want him to see. Ever.

She tried to smile at him but it ended up as the corners of her mouth twitching feebly.

Sharpay looked back at her and rolled her eyes. "Gabriella!" she called shrilly. "Lipstick!" When Gabriella still didn't move she added, "Now!" on the end, in the tone she usually reserved for calling Ryan. She didn't know why she was covering for the other girl but she felt like she had to.

Gabriella finally cottoned on and rushed forward, grabbing her lipstick from her pocket o hand over to Sharpay. Sharpay couldn't resist having a further little dig at the girl who was now standing in front of her. "And where is my bag?!" Sharpay asked in a very Sharpay-ish tone. Gabriella looked around gob-smacked that Sharpay was treating her like this. "Go!" But when Gabriella didn't move out of shock she added another "Now!" in the same tone as the one before.

With that dismissal, Gabriella begrudgingly left the studio in search of Sharpay's Prada tote.

When the doors swung closed behind her Chad lent forward in his seat to whisper in both Ryan and Troy's ears, "Looks like the Mountain Lion got herself a new lap dog."

Both Troy and Ryan, who were sitting next to each other in the row in front of Chad, turned to face the boy to deny the statement he had just made but were beaten to the punch by Sharpay herself.

"I heard that Danforth," Sharpay shot over her shoulder.

Chad imitated her but he screwed up his nose and stuck out his tongue out so his words were unintelligible. Troy snorted his laughter because his best friend looked so much like a three year old when he made that face.

Sharpay turned to leer at Chad. "Get a haircut," She quipped.

"I got one last night actually," Chad replied quickly, a smug look on his face figuring that he had beat the Ice Queen in a slanging match for once.

Sharpay walked towards Chad who was sat near the aisle. She stared intently at his hair, her mouth and nose slowly twisting in disgust. "I meant a decent one," she sneered before turning and allowing the sneer to be replaced with a smug smirk that came with knowing she had won. But everybody won against Chad; he wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. True he had his moments, but those moments were few and far between.

Chad looked around desperately for someone to intervene on his behalf and to say something to put Sharpay in her place. But everywhere he looked there were people sniggering at him. He looked to Ryan and Troy to find them barely suppressing their giggles. He sat back in his seat and sulked for the rest of the lesson as would a little toddler who didn't get his own way.

The double period came and went quickly enough, with Darbus coming onstage moments before Gabriella re-entered the auditorium. She ignored the fact that Sharpay had missed registration and focused on poor Gabriella. In the end, Gabriella was given a detention while Sharpay got away scot-free with Darbus muttering something about her being the vice president of the drama club.

They were half way through the lesson before someone noticed the love bite on Sharpay's leg. Her thigh length skirt mostly covered it but when she had to kick her leg out, her skirt rode up revealing it in all its glory. It was one of those things you had to be looking at her legs to see. Which begs the question of why it was spotted by one Kelsi Nielson...?

"Get in there Zeke! My man!" Troy shouted, going to high five his basketball buddy. He promptly lowered his hand when he found himself being left hanging.

Zeke locked eyes with Sharpay and said so softly that people had to strain to hear him, "I didn't do that."

He slowly got up from his seat and walked calmly towards the door while Sharpay was left on the stage, following his retreating form with tear filled eyes. He pushed open one of the doors of the studio and looked back at Sharpay. She looked at him and even though her heart belonged to another, she felt it break. All the sadness and hurt in those eyes made her feel lower that dirt. He walked from the studio.

After a moment she ran after him and as soon as those doors closed, the gossip started. Everyone speculated on what had happened and where she had got that love bite from. Gabriella was relieved to hear no-one guessed the truth.

Darbus soon got them back on task though and continued the lesson as she had planned it.

Neither Zeke nor Sharpay were seen again that day. No-one knew where they went and to tell the truth no-one cared, they were all still to caught up in the gossip of how Sharpay had got that love bite. And on her thigh of all places!

"So who do you think she got it from Gabs?" Troy asked his girlfriend as he put his arm around her.

"Err... erm..." Gabriella stuttered and stumbled over her words, looking for an answer frantically.

Troy noticed how flustered she looked and chuckled at her, assuming his girlfriend was shy and innocent and embarrassed to talk about such physical things. He opened his mouth to speak at the exact time Darbus decided to call out to Gabriella.

"Miss Montez!" Darbus' voice rang out clear in the space of the studio. "May I remind you that you have detention time to serve? To the auditorium to paint the sets for the winter musicale!"

Gabriella sighed and walked to the auditorium with Troy. At the open doorway she said her goodbye to Troy, a goodbye which included a quick kiss from Troy which grew more passionate before it was stopped by a cough from the door.

Gabriella separated herself from Troy and blushed at the fact she had been caught kissing him in such a way. She turned to see who had interrupted them and a look of complete horror crossed her face.

There stood Sharpay, tapping her foot impatiently. No words were said because as soon as Troy opened his mouth to talk, Sharpay disappeared back into the auditorium.

Troy smirked at Gabriella who quickly detangled herself from him and followed Sharpay through the doors without saying another word to Troy.

She found Sharpay on the stage, kneeling in front of a cardboard set. She had a brush in her hand which she used to silence Gabriella before so much as two syllables had left her mouth. Soundlessly, Sharpay rose from her feet and thrust the brush into Gabriella's hand before leaving.

Gabriella was left standing on the stage, mouth moving but her throat forming no words. After five minutes she just fell to her knees and sobbed. Sure Sharpay had bossed her around but she had deserved it. She had ruined everything she had had with Sharpay, and for no good reason. She had absentmindedly reminded Sharpay that they could never have what they wanted; to be with each other completely. They were together physically almost all the time but they could never be together the way they wanted to be.

And that was the way she stayed for the rest of her detention, kneeling on the floor sobbing her eyes out.

She got home and still nothing changed. She cried until she threw up and still the tears came. Having a shower helped. It didn't stop her crying but at least it hid the tears. She did all she could to stay in the shower, but you can only rinse and repeat so many times. She shaved everywhere she could think of, running the razor over her skin again and again and again. She felt the razor dig into her skin around her ankle but did nothing to stop it. She looked down at the wound she had caused. It was quite small but she was surprised to find it didn't hurt. There was a slight twinge but no pain. Then she lowered her leg and the water ran down it, washing away the blood. She clenched her teeth and hissed in pain. But it was a good kind of pain. It covered up all her worries. She also found she had stopped crying.

She was sat in the bottom of the shower, studying the wound, now welcoming the pain it brought, when she heard her mother open the front door. She switched the water off and got out of the shower.

"Hi mom," she called down the stairs.

"Hey darling," she heard through the door. "Good day?"

"Yeah," Gabriella lied.

She quickly grabbed a towel to cover her body before running to her room. She had to move now otherwise her mother would see her and that meant unwelcome questions about why her ankle was bleeding.

She spared a moment to dig out the first aid kit her mother insisted she kept in her room. She blew the dust off it and opened it. She took the gauze and wiped at her ankle gently before wrapping it up with more gauze and bandages.

She collapsed on her bed still wrapped up in her towel, and was asleep within a minute.

Emotional distress could really take it out of a girl...

* * *

Sharpay avoided Gabriella fro the rest of the week. They both hardly saw each other until Saturday night, when Gabriella saw way too much of Sharpay for her liking.

That Saturday night was the after party of the basketball game of the year. Everyone who was anyone in the social ladder that was East High was there.

Everyone brought some form of alcohol, and the bottles all got passed around, so by an hour into the party everyone was pretty much smashed. But not Gabriella. No she hadn't touched a drop tonight. Ok well maybe a little drop... but it wasn't unneeded. She waved her conscience by calling it Dutch courage. She needed all the courage she could get for what she was about to do.

She had made up her mind.

She wanted Sharpay, not Troy.

She didn't care what anybody else thought. Tonight she was going to march up to Sharpay and capture her sweet lips in her own, proclaiming to the world who it was that she loved.

She walked through all the rooms on the lower floor of the Danforth house, searching for her blonde haired lover. But she was no-where to be found.

She saw Taylor passed out on the couch and smiled. For all her hard work that girl sure knew how to cut loose and party.

She saw Kelsi over in the corner cuddling with Jason. She walked up to them both and coughed to draw their attention away from each other.

"Have you seen Sharpay?" she yelled over the music.

"Yeah she went upstairs," Jason yelled back.

Gabriella turned towards the stairs and mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do. She started towards the stairs and was consequently unable to hear the warning Jason yelled after her.

The music was quieter up upstairs, the sound not carrying very well to the upper level of the house. She knew the layout of Chad's house so she knew which doors Sharpay was likely to be behind. She checked the bathroom and Chad's parents' room to no avail. Then she came to Chad's bedroom. She pressed her ear to the door and heard the unmistakable sound of Sharpay's tone. Her voice was muffled enough by the wood of the door so she couldn't make out what was being said.

She reached for the door handle and paused with her hand on the knob. She breathed in deeply, quickly running through what she was going to say in her head one more time. She bit her lip in anticipation and pushed the door just enough for it to swing open.

"Shar..." she started but her words caught in her throat when she saw what was happening. She stood there frozen as tears slowly welled up in her eyes.

* * *

"Oh yeah baby," Zeke groaned. "Right there. Oh yeah... babe... babe I'm gunna cum..."

Both Zeke and Sharpay moaned as they came, unaware of there captive audience. Sharpay looked up, not wanting to look at Zeke as she felt this.

She thought she heard her name and opened her eyes to look towards the door. Whatever she had been feeling died as she heard a heart break. "Oh god," Sharpay whispered to herself, eyes locking with the one person she really didn't want to see her at this moment. Well she did want her to see her at this moment but not at this exact moment. She was quite happy for her to see her at one of their moments but not when she had a moment with someone else.

_Great __I'm__ babbling at myself..._

Almost immediately Gabriella turned and ran away from what she saw. Almost immediately after that Sharpay got up to follow her. She had never taken her underwear off so it was quite simple to get up and run, leaving a bewildered Zeke lying on the bed behind her.

She got downstairs to find Gabriella nowhere. She ran through all the rooms, searching them all, ignoring the meaningless cat-calls from the various drunken boys and a few girls who were paralytic.

She was nowhere. She couldn't find her anywhere. She walked back up to Chad's bedroom, shrugging off the advances of many a drunk teen. When there she didn't react to Zeke at all, she didn't tell him to leave her alone or to hold her, whether to get out or to lie next to her. So Zeke being Zeke, he tried to do the gentlemanly thing and to hold her. But she paid him no attention.

Eventually he grew uncomfortable and left. And that was when the tears started. The hot salty rivers that ran down her face, taking black Max Factor with them until her face was left looking like a miner's back in the shower.

**If there are any mistakes please tell me. ****And**** if anyone has anything they want to see, I'm sure ****I**** could add a chapter or two where what you ask for happens. Such as the characters singing particular songs... ****I**** have a couple in mind so any further suggestions welcome.**

**But ****what'cha think**** of this chapter? Did you like the ending? Was it too long? Did it ramble on in places?**

**Please review.**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	7. The Failed Attempt at Saying Sorry

**Before ****I**** continue can ****I**** just please say that ****I'm**** not going to be one of those people who demand reviews but please review this story because ****I**** can't help but feel saddened at the lack of reviews. It makes me think that ****I'm**** w****asting my time writing this because no one likes it even though ****I**** know people are reading it.**

**Ok that was just a little moan ****I**** felt like getting out there... now on with the drama...**

* * *

The school was abuzz with the gossip from the party. But like all gossip, what had actually happened had been distorted into the drastically unreal. So far, the best version of events that Sharpay had heard was that Gabriella had walked in on her drinking Zeke's blood whilst having sex with him, like all good vampire sluts do. 

In some ways, the gossip version of what happened was so much better than the reality. Sharpay found herself almost wishing that she were a vampire who went around praying on the basketball team... it was so much better than the facing the fact she had hurt the only person she had cared about in ages. Gabriella had been understandably ignoring her; she had even spent a night curled up on the balcony outside Gabriella's room only to be met with a bucket of cold water at dawn. The water would have been ok had she had the fleeting chance to talk to Gabriella, but she hadn't. She didn't even get the chance to see Gabriella properly before she had heard sirens heading towards the house.

Needless to say, she had gotten away from the house pretty sharpish after that...

Sharpay didn't know what to do. Ryan looked at her with concern etched on his face. In the matter of a weekend his sister had become little more than a shell. When he had woken up this morning he had gone down stairs to be greeted by the sight of a soaked Sharpay dripping all over the marble kitchen.

* * *

Gabriella had awoken to find a curled up Sharpay on her balcony. She had smiled sweetly at the image of a slumbering Sharpay on the wooden floor of her balcony. She had walked over to her and reached out with her hand to try to rouse the sleeping blonde when she saw them, the four red lines that ran horizontally for a few centimetres on the side of her wrist. That was when she remembered why they were there... 

Her smile didn't so much fade as disappear in an instant, being replaced with a snarl. Anger sparked within her as the memories of the party swept over her. She pulled her hand away from Sharpay as if she were the most venomous animal on the planet. She looked down in disgust for a moment before a glimmer of an idea passed through her mind. The snarl turned to a smirk as she disappeared back into the house for a moment.

Nothing could describe the pleasure Gabriella felt as she tipped that bucket of cold water over Sharpay. She watched for a moment as Sharpay gasped through the icy water which now covered her.

She laughed as she again disappeared back into the house, slightly disappointed that she could behold her handiwork any longer. She then proceeded to get ready for school, but it would be a lie to say that Sharpay didn't plague her thoughts...

* * *

Sharpay walked into school, just simply walked, no strutting... the funny thing was no one noticed her really until a freshman walked into her, knocking her to the floor. A collective gasp could be heard throughout the whole school, spreading like a Mexican wave. Only after that did the whispers start, the whispers of what happened. Unlike the gossip from the party, what happened was not at all distorted. The news was so shocking to the student body of East High that no one forgot what it was that was said to them for all that the infamous Ice Queen, the ferocious Mountain Lion that was Sharpay Evans did was get up and walk away.

* * *

Taylor ran up to Gabriella who was standing at her locker, waiting for Troy like she usually did. She didn't particularly want to see or speak to him right now but she found it comforting to lapse into the routine of a normal school day. 

"Gabriella! Did you hear the news?" Taylor called to her, acting much like a normal teenage girl with some burning information about someone that she had to get off her chest. Gabriella ignored the abnormal behaviour from Taylor, who hated the thought of lowering herself to the level of such gossip mongers as the cheerleaders, and shook her head in response, only slightly coming out of her daze.

"Sharpay," Taylor started, pausing when she noticed Gabriella flinch at the mention of the blonde's name. She mentally logged the flinch, filing it away in her brain for later use. You see she had a theory, a theory that she didn't know wasn't that far from the truth. Well it actually was the truth but Taylor didn't know that and neither Gabriella or Sharpay had any clue that any one even had a theory about them. "Isn't herself."

Gabriella shrugged the information off outwardly, but inside her mind was racing to process the titbit Taylor had given her.

_Why wasn't Sharpay herself?_

_Is it because of me?_

_Is she really sorry?_

Taylor reached out to hold her friends shoulder in a reassuring way. She was surprised when Gabriella recoiled away from her touch. "Gabi," she started.

Gabriella let out a sigh. She knew Taylor. She only used her nickname when she wanted to talk seriously and she really didn't want to have a serious talk with anyone right now, she didn't think she could handle it without bursting into tears.

"Hey Gabs!" she heard a familiar masculine voice call out to her. She smiled slightly, welcoming the distraction from Taylor. Taylor frowned, having not heard Troy's voice and not noticing his presence until he was standing over her shoulder. "Hey Tay," he said warmly.

"Err hey Troy," Taylor said half-heartedly. Something was bothering her friend and she wanted to get to the bottom of it, she needed to confirm her theory. But before she could even object, Gabriella pulled Troy away to walk with her down the corridor.

* * *

Sharpay walked meekly through the corridors of the school towards her home room. She was vaguely aware of the people around her and Ryan following her but gave no sign to Ryan that she heard his feeble attempts to get her to speak. 

She turned the corner into the corridor in which her and Ryan's homeroom was situated just as Gabriella and Troy did the same thing at the other end. The corridor was surprisingly devoid of students, it seemed they had already learned not to be anywhere near a certain Mrs Darbus when the warning bell rang. The girls' eyes met and a spark electrified the air of the corridor, making both Ryan and Troy pause for a moment. Sharpay continued forwards while Gabriella seized upon Troy's pause as an opportunity to deal Sharpay a somewhat underhanded blow. She turned on a dime and pushed Troy up against the nearest wall. Sharpay's jaw fell to the floor. She turned away, not wanting to see anymore. Gabriella allowed Troy to flip her so she was the one with her back against the wall. She opened one eye to look over his shoulder at Sharpay. She pushed Troy away from her and smirked. That smirk lasted only a moment because Sharpay tuned a second later and Gabriella could see the tears watering up her beautiful brown eyes. Realising the extent of what she had done, she swallowed before pushing a very confused Troy out of her way.

Sharpay saw through her blurred vision that Gabriella was trying to make her way towards her. Ryan had never seen Sharpay move so fast. One moment she was in front of him, then he blinked and he found her brushing past him.

Gabriella tried to start after Sharpay but was stopped by a hand wrapping around her wrist. She winced, only looking back to swat at Troy's hand which held her. Still Troy gripped her wrist tightly, causing flashes of pain to shoot up her arm to her brain. Troy used his hold on her wrist to pull her to him. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Gabriella.

"Let go of me."

Her tone was dangerously low. He had never heard her talk in that way before. He let her go out of shock alone and she wasted no time in scurrying away from him. Still he called out to her in a vain attempt to get her to turn around; "Gabriella!"

When her pace didn't slow he took it upon himself to follow her, leaving a very confused Ryan still standing at one end of the corridor wondering what the hell had just happened.

* * *

Taylor revealed herself, turning from around the corner Troy and Gabriella had walked around, slightly stunned at what had taken place. She slowly walked over to Ryan and simply said; "Huh." 

"Yep," he replied, his mind still going a mile a minute to try to process everything his eyes had just seen.

Taylor looked up at him and reached out to put her hands on his head to draw him into a hug where he lay his head on her collarbone. "Don't strain yourself sweetie," she whispered to him whilst smoothing his hair comfortingly.

"I don't..." he started to try to say.

"Shhh," she murmured, soothing his confused mind. "Let's just get you to class."

It was all too much for Ryan. All the strange events of today forced him to do something he hadn't done in ages; he drew his hand up to his mouth and stuck his thumb in his mouth. Immediately he felt a wave of comfort wash over him and he let it sweep him away until his mind was docile once more.

Taylor's mind meanwhile, was working furiously, processing every little detail of what had happened. She stayed there for a moment, standing there with Ryan until he had calmed down. That was when Chad decided to rush around the corner muttering various swear words and something about Darbus eating him alive. He took one look at Taylor stood there with Ryan's head on her shoulder and got the wrong idea straight away. Taylor heard his gasp and Ryan opened his eyes to see him there. He realised how this must look, his head on what looked like her chest and him making a sucking noise. Needless to say he leapt away from Taylor as if he had been electrocuted.

Chad just stood there, tears welling up in his eyes. He looked back and forth from Taylor to Ryan before saying; "Ryan! How could you do this to me!" and running off.

"What the...!" Ryan exclaimed, eyes fixed on the spot where Chad was stood a moment ago.

His head was again on Taylor's shoulder/collarbone less than a second later. "Shh baby, you're okay," she again soothed.

* * *

Sharpay had gotten as far as the front doors when Gabriella caught up with her. 

"Pay!"

She froze immediately at the use of her nickname. Only two people had ever called her that, ever.

_How dare she think she can use that nickname now?_

She whipped her body around to face Gabriella. "What is it Bri?" Sharpay said back, putting as much venom as she could into the little pet name she had developed for Gabriella, one she had never heard Troy use.

Pain flickered across Gabriella's face and Sharpay realised her words had hit their intended mark. She revelled in a fleeting moment of joy before she looked into those chocolate brown eyes and saw the unshed tears there.

Only now, looking into Gabriella's eyes properly for the first time since it happened did she fully realise the extent of what she had done.

She had broken this girl's heart.

The one time she had ever truly felt something for someone and she went and buggered it up by hurting them more than she could have possibly dreamed of hurting anyone ever.

She couldn't have hated herself more than she did at that precise moment.

She stepped forward and reached out to take Gabriella in her arms and the other girl collapsed into them. That was the way they stayed for a second before past memories returned to them.

Both girls flew back from each other, not wanting to be anywhere near the other. Gabriella looked at Sharpay, disgust written in every inch of her face.

Sharpay returned the look and then some, giving Gabriella a look that contained enough venom to topple an African elephant.

Gabriella lost her cool first, letting out a strangled scream and grabbing Sharpay, pulling her into what she hoped was a vacant classroom. Lucky for her it was because she couldn't hold in her emotions anymore.

"How could you do this to me?!" she screeched at Sharpay.

Sharpay felt a twinge of guilt. This was all her fault but she couldn't bite back the retort that was growing in her throat.

"Oh and you're allowed to do the same thing to me every single day?!"

Gabriella almost physically deflated before Sharpay's eyes. What she said held more than a grain of truth. She had never broken it off with Troy... and Sharpay had to deal with her and Troy everyday. Not that she was ever insensitive enough to do anything with Troy while Sharpay was there, nor that she ever did anything with Troy that he didn't goad her into doing, even if Sharpay wasn't there.

_What __I__ feel now... is that how __I__ make her feel every day?_

She cast her mind back to when she had spent the entire weekend with Sharpay, ignoring Troy's calls. She had turned up to homeroom on Monday and Troy had come to sit next to her.

"Where were you last night?" he had asked casually before the bell rang for first period. Sunday night was usually their movie night where they sat and watched some crappy movie and ate popcorn and snuggled on his sofa. But she had texted him with some lame excuse about her uncle she had never spoken about before the last three weeks in a row, apart from this week when she hadn't even bothered to text him. He had tried to ring her but had got her voicemail every time. He had rung her house and her mother had told him that she was studying. But when he had snuck over all he had found was an empty room.

"Out," she said simply, not even looking at him.

"Where?" he started his interrogation. She raised her eyes from her desk to look him defiantly in the eye. "With Sharpay?"

She lowered her eyes once more, looking as far away from him as possible but avoiding the gaze of the blonde sat across the room whose ears had perked up at the sound of her name. The bell rang and everyone got up to go to first period. Troy remained where he was, watching as Gabriella moved away from him.

Quick as a cat he got up and blocked her way. This gained him a few stares which he didn't seem to notice but Gabriella felt all their eyes on her like lasers. She pushed her way past Troy, trying to avoid everyone's eyes.

In a growl, barely audible above the din of the students moving around, she heard; "Answer me!"

Pretending she hadn't heard him, she picked up her folders and notebooks and walked out of the room pretty darn quickly.

She had talked to Sharpay about it and they had both agreed that they had better deal with it and soon or they would have to end what they were doing. Well actually, looking back on it, it was Gabriella who had decided that she had to deal with it. She hadn't been willing to end her relationship with Troy for Sharpay... well at least not then.

Gabriella fumed inside at the realisation of her own faults. She hadn't ended it with Troy, which must have made Sharpay feel like she would pick Troy over her... and then there was what she had decided to do to lay his suspicion to rest...

She screamed at herself. She wanted to look at Sharpay but found that she couldn't. Detestation filled her, spreading through her until it was engrained into every fibre of her being. Feeling sick at herself, she stormed from the room, leaving a red faced Sharpay behind her.

She flung open the door, desperately wanting to look back at her blonde love, but she couldn't find the courage inside herself to do it.

* * *

As she left, Sharpay watched her go, noticing the blood on the sleeve of Gabriella's sweater for the first time. And in that split second, all her anger drained from her, replaced with worry for her brunette love. She knew what that blood meant, and she guessed she was the cause for that blood being there. And that killed her inside.She let the tears she had been holding in for so long fall. She couldn't remember ever crying so much over the space of a couple of days. 

_What has this girl done to me?_

* * *

Gabriella let the door close by itself behind her. She started towards the front doors of the school. She didn't know where the hell she was going but she had to get out of here now. She was mere metres from the door when suddenly someone stepped out in front of her, purposefully blocking her path. 

"Don't walk away from me," Troy said in a cold voice so unlike the one in which he usually spoke.

Gabriella didn't even look up at him and continued walking forward, attempting to side step him when she got to close.

But he didn't let her. He reached out, grabbing her arm and shoving her against the wall next to the doors. Without missing a beat he lent forward and pressed his lips to hers. He felt her go limp in his arms and opened his eyes to find her staring blankly over his shoulder.

He drew his face back from hers, lips curling in disgust, her reaction confirming everything in his mind. He pushed himself away from her, turning his head away so he wouldn't even have to look at her anymore. He brought his hand up to wipe at his lips before staring at the ground, letting it all sink in.

"Troy," he heard a meek voice behind him say softly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't," he said with finality to his tone. "Just go."

He heard the doors close behind him and he found he couldn't control his emotions anymore; the anger boiling inside of him was too great.

His fists clenched at his side, his nails digging into his palms. He felt warm blood flow down his hand as he let out a guttural scream of pure rage and charged towards the nearest wall, slamming his fist into it with all his strength.

He heard something crack and drew his fist back from the wall to find some paint and dust fall away from the wall.

_Cheap fucking school..._

He spared a quick glance at his hand and to his surprise found a piece of plaster jutting out of between his knuckles.

_Shit._

He grasped it and pulled it out quickly, hissing as he did so. He inspected the throbbing wound and decided he should go to the hospital to get it checked out; he didn't want anything to spoil his basketball career, not when he was depending on a scholarship to get into college. He sighed heavily before turning on his heel. He saw Sharpay standing there, concern on her face. His face was unreadable, he was feeling so many things he didn't know which one to show.

She walked over to him cautiously and grasped at his hand to inspect it also. He wrenched his hand from her grip and used it to backhand her across the face. She fell to the floor, not moving out of surprise and partly fear. She chanced a glance up at him and felt the fear inside her grow until it threatened to consume her. His face was still blank, no emotion showing at all.

She watched as he turned on his heel and walked through the doors to his truck outside. She waited for a few minutes, calming herself, trying to gather her courage to get up. She only stirred because of the bell ringing to signal first period. She didn't want anyone to walk down the corridor to find her like this. She got up and ran to the nearest bathroom and locked herself in the stall at the far end.

She listened as a few students came and went from the bathroom, only taking the chance of emerging when she had counted five minutes since the last girl had left.

She walked out, catching a glimpse of herself for the first time in a mirror. Blood and dust from Troy's hand were smeared across her cheek and there was a small cut right in her cheek bone, adding to the blood on her face.

She lent down and began to wash both her hands and her face off in the warm water. She noticed the door open behind her too late. She spun quickly to try to escape back to the safety of the stalls but it was too late, she had already been seen.

Her shoulders sagged and her head fell as she just physically gave up the will to try to get away, mentally preparing herself for the laughter and words that would be thrown at her.

Then the last thing she expected happened, the intruder drew her into a hug, actually letting her cry into her shoulder.

"Thank... you," she managed between sobs. She opened her eyes to see her tears fall onto the ebony skin of her empathiser. She looked up to find herself staring into the smiling face of Taylor, a girl she had never really understood, nor really gotten along with.

Taylor smoothed down her blonde hair, much as she had done with the other Evans twin not half an hour earlier. She was quite pleased to find though that this twin calmed down much quicker than the other one did and made no suspect noises.

Sharpay looked up at her, her face a mess of black tears and water and blood. "You know?" she said, her voice horse from her sobs. Taylor only nodded in response, releasing Sharpay from her grasp so the girl was free to move back to the hand basins.

She looked down and thanked whoever was listening that she had chosen to wear one of her old tops today and not the new halter top she had brought only yesterday.

* * *

Across town Gabriella pulled up outside her house in her old banger of a car. She got out and slammed the door multiple times to get it to close properly. There were moments she just loved that her mum worked during school hours and some times longer into the night. She opened the front door and closed it behind her, locking it behind her. She dropped her bag and ran up the stairs. She ran towards her room and pulled out a little box from her closet. 

_I'm pathetic..._

She opened it and the light glinted off the few metallic objects that were inside.

_I'm a waste of space..._

She played a sick game of enie meanie miney mo in her head to choose which object would be the lucky winner.

_I don't belong..._

She pulled out the razor blade and rested it against the side if her wrist.

_I never deserved her..._

No one was there to hear her whimpers of pain. Even if there were, she didn't deserve any help.

_I hurt her everyday... _

_How could __I__ do that?_

_I love her..._

_But __I__ broke her heart._

_Like she broke mine..._

The room started spinning. Everything went out of focus. Everything blurred together and her mind swam among the colours.

_Sharpay... I love you..._

**I re-read this story and realised I hadn't done anything that related to the trailer, so I tried with this chapter to put stuff from the trailer in. What do you guys think? Am I writing Gabriella too dark? And I don't know about Ryan... am I writing him ok or badly? Oh and about the thumb sucking thing I am honestly not trying to offend anyone, so I am really, really sorry if I do.**

**And if anyone has a better suggestion for the title of this chapter, please tell me because it does fairly suck...**

**Thanks for reading. **

**Please review.**

**R.F.L.C**

**X**


	8. The Hand of Fate

Gabriella moaned as she awakened. She tried to open her eyes, but whether she succeeded in doing so or not she did not know as what she saw did not change.

Black.

Darkness.

Oblivion.

That was all there was for her. She tried to move, to try to escape this depressing empty place, but nothing worked...

But why would she want to escape from this place of calm? In this dark void she felt safe, she could fool herself into thinking there was nothing else but her in the entire world. She had, in essence, regressed to a mere babe in the womb, a floating, thoughtless, totally egocentric babe. Nothing else mattered but her. But then again, to her, there was nothing else to matter about...

But Gabriella being the inquisitive type that she is, couldn't remain in that state, that pure, contented bliss, for long. She started to think, to think about how it was that she got here, why she was like this, totally enveloped in darkness, why she so craved the comfort that the darkness offered to her.

As she slowly lost herself in her thoughts, she was ripped from them slightly unfairly by the regression of the darkness, her darkness, into a strange, new, harsh light. The light started as a small dot that grew bigger and bigger, driving out all of the darkness that Gabriella had so revealed in. But Gabriella found that as the darkness dispersed, so did the comfort it had offered her and she found herself longing for it it, craving the feel of it... but it was gone. Gabriella realised that it was gone for good, never to return, and that it was somehow her fault.

She wanted to struggle, to wiggle and scream as would a child being taken away from the reassurance that its mothers arms offered. All she wanted was to return to the darkness, but she found that, like before, she could not move.

Steadily the light enveloped her, driving out all of the darkness until she was left with only in the harsh bright light.

Then the light seemed to soften around her, and she found her feelings changed. She started to feel a security similar to what the darkness had offered her, only different in some small way which Gabriella could not figure out. A warmness that wormed its way into her, starting at her skin and slowly sinking deeper and deeper until was engrained into her very soul.

She stayed that way for how long she did not know, just taking the time to bask in the warmth this light offered to her.

She sort of semi noticed when a shape started to emerge out of the light. Slowly the figure started to come into focus, capturing Gabriella's full attention.

Slowly, the figure became to come towards her.

Slowly, the figures features became identifiable.

Gabriella felt a smile slowly creep over her face as she gazed into those deep chocolate brown eyes which she loved so much.

With the light coming from behind her, it softened the blondes outline, lighting her luscious hair and making it look like spun gold. She really did look like the angel that Gabriella had always known her as.

Gabriella saw the smile that her angel wore and felt a new warmth spread thought-out her body and install itself into her soul, driving out the warmth from the light.

This was different to when the light had forced the darkness out; she had missed the comfort that the surrounding gloom had offered her, if only for a moment... yet she felt nothing for the warmth she had just lost. She finally felt... truly content...

Then her angel walked closer still, the light around her lighting her dainty frame in the most flattering way possible. She walked closer and closer until she stood right in front of Gabriella who looked up at her with a huge smile on her face. She knew where the warmth was coming from... it was coming from the love that she felt for her angel and the love that she knew they shared.

As the blonde walked closer, the warmth started to change. The change started as a twinge that Gabriella's unconscious deemed to insignificant to affect her conscious mind. Then that twinge grew and grew, sparking into a little fire that burned somewhere within her. This Gabriella's consciousness just dismissed as desire building within the girl as she looked upon the one she knew as her lover. Then it became greater still, the heat from the fire becoming more than slightly uncomfortable.

The fire burning inside her became more and more intense as her angel steadily continued her approach. Gabriella tried to shrug it off, to pass it off as a little twinge that could be ignored like before, but it couldn't. The fire grew in strength inside of her, causing Gabriella to start to squirm in discomfort.

Then it felt as it the flames from the fire licked at her heart and a concentrated sort of pain shot right to her brain. Her head flung back as she started to writhe around in agony beneath the gaze of her lover. She opened her mouth to scream but found she could not. As soon as she opened her mouth, the light that surrounded her seemed to rush in to repress the scream that was building inside her throat. She felt it, like a sickly syrup, rushing around her body, covering her inside. She felt it flow down into her throat into both her stomach and her lungs until she couldn't breathe. She felt it flow through her veins and carry out to all her internal organs and muscles, covering them all with what felt like liquid flame.

She felt a darkness pull at her. Not the darkness from before, that was different, this was the sort of darkness that unconsciousness offered...

When the darkness started tugging at the edges of her vision, Gabriella wrenched her head forwards so she could get one last look at her lover, because she was sure that this was it, that this was the end for her, that this was her death...

She set eyes upon her angel one last time, but what she saw was not her angel. It was still her blonde haired lover, but she had changed in the few seconds in which Gabriella had been chocking. She was no longer an angel, but a demon.

As Gabriella's world of light faded into darkness, the last thing she saw was her girl, standing there in the darkness which had overcome everything else, seemingly lit from some inner light, a light which made her look aflame.

Her hair was now wild as were her smiling eyes. Her smile was now a harsh smirk, the mouth and lips which she had so relished the taste of twisted, turned up at the corners, making her skin ride up her face as well. Her eyes which were once so filled with love were now filled with disgust, all of it aimed at her.

That was when the memories rushed back. Everything that had happened flooded Gabriella's consciousness.

Her eyes went wide as everything faded to black. Everything she could have done to hurt her lover she had done...

She had stayed with him instead of her, she had kept them a secret, she had made them into a lie. Love was not a lie, it was never meant to be that way... She had even given up in the end, she had taken the easy route instead of fighting for what she wanted...

As her consciousness dimmed, fate decided to play one last card to Gabriella...

It gave her the burden of a second chance...

**Sorry that this chapter is a) so short and b) so late coming. This is seriously like the third draft of this chapter I have done. The first was Taylor and Gabriella, the second was Taylor and Sharpay but I like this one the best.**

**I haven't written something that hasn't been a vent for my emotions in so long due to my starting my AS levels and thus my writing style has kind of changed so sorry if this chapter doesn't fit with the rest of the story. If it doesn't then tell me and I will do my best to make it work.**

**Please review though... and it was nice to know people actually wanted me to continue with this...**

**R.F.L.C**

**Jo**

**xxx**


	9. The Silent Screams

**Just want to say thank you for the reviews, especially to stumble!... You have no idea how much I edited that line... And Daizy... you always review bless ya doll...**

Gabriella looked around as she heard the bell ring. She looked down as the mass of students started to appear from the dark school into the bright sunshine. She watched them all come out, some of them in groups, some alone.

Gabriella stood up in the shadows, watching them all...

She envied them in a way, they all had something. She no longer had anything.

She had come into school this morning all smiles and hope. But then that hope was dashed by the mere absence of the single most important person to her.

She had spent the whole day searching...

She heard foot steps climbing the stairs behind her. She turned, hoping against all hope that she would see the glimmer of the sun off of her blonde hair and the sight of that warm smile would be what greeted her eyes.

Instead she saw only broad shoulders and an empty grin that she had once loved so.

"Hey," he greeted the silent brunette whose only response was to turn back to look out over everyone.

"Why weren't you in lessons?" he asked. "Everyone was worried about you."

Inside her head she was screaming at him, telling him how she knew that he knew about her and what she had done to him, how it really wasn't that hard to figure out why she hadn't been in lessons all day, how she just wanted him to leave her alone.

She could her him shifting his weight behind her, knowing he was growing impatient with her silence. She wordlessly smirked to herself knowing that she was annoying him.

"I know," he said, his voice cracking with emotion.

That wiped the smirk from her face. For a moment she actually felt a glimmer of sympathy for him, for what she must have put him through. Then he spoke again.

"I mean, who hasn't tapped that?"

Anger flared within her, her eyes creasing and lips twisting into a snarl. How dare he talk about her angel like that? She knew full well about the past that they shared, she had heard both sides of the story. It was funny how Troy's version had been vastly different from Sharpay's...

She felt sick inside as she thought about all the time she had been with Troy, all that she had given him...

Troy grinned maliciously to himself as he saw Gabriella tense, knowing that his words had had the desired effect. He decided to push her more; he wanted this bitch to suffer for what she had done. If the rest of the school heard about this...

"You gotta love the way she wriggles though... Those little moans..."

Gabriella kept her cool, her face neutral, apart from her flared nostrils. She knew he was only doing this to wind her up, and she knew that she somewhat deserved this from him, it's just he was playing dirty and hitting below the belt.

"And the way she scrunches her nose when she..."

That was when Gabriella lost it, her vision clouded by a red haze. She spun on her heel to face him and marched up to him, her face a mask of pure anger.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH," Gabriella bellowed in a voice that surprised even her.

* * *

"Cya tomorrow guys!" Ryan shouted behind him as the door to the auditorium closed. He walked through the clearing halls to his sister's locker out of pure habit alone. He stood there for three minutes before he remembered that his sister was not at school today and that he would have to get the bus home, the bus that left in less than two minutes...

"Bad word," he muttered to himself before gathering himself and jogging through the halls. He started down the main corridor, the bus in his sights. He jogged steadily down the corridor, enjoying the slight cardio workout. Then he saw the door to the bus close behind some skater dude as he boarded the bus.

"Double bad word."

He broke out into a run, a sprint at full tilt. He put his head down and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on his running.

He should have kept his eyes open...

* * *

Taylor made her way to the library, all the work which she intended to do in her arms. Two folders and a pile of loose sheets were grasped in her arms as she walked along the front corridor of the school. She looked down quickly at the top sheet of the pile before glancing out the big front doors of the school to watch everybody leaving.

She became vaguely aware of the sound of shoes hitting lino, the empty corridor amplifying the sound slightly. She didn't even get a chance to look up before she was knocked to the ground by the running wonder.

It took her a few moments to gather herself and to take into account what had just happened. She closed her eyes, mentally preparing herself to get up and shout at the bozo that had knocked her down. But when she opened her eyes again, her vision was filled with the grimacing face of Ryan Evans and she just felt all the anger drain from her body.

"Are you ok?" he asked her with more than a hint of fear in his voice.

She just smiled up at him, not trusting herself to open her mouth just in case some random insult spilled out when that was the last thing she wanted. She knew Ryan wouldn't hurt a fly, at least not on purpose.

She just sat up and looked around her, taking in the sight of her spilled papers and folders lying on the floor in complete disarray.

Ryan followed her gaze and scrambled to pick everything up, repeatedly muttering apologies as he did so. He gathered up all her papers fairly quickly but when he turned to pick up her folders for her as well she found himself staring at her shoes.

He quickly straightened himself to a standing position to look into her eyes. "I'm sorry," he said finally.

"It's ok," she replied in a clipped voice, still not quite trusting herself to speak.

"Yeah well..."

"Yeah I gotta..."

"Me too..."

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence as neither of them tried to move past the other.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

Taylor's head immediately turned to face in the direction from which the sound had come. She identified the voice as belonging to one Gabriella Montez and was momentarily stunned at her tone for it was one she had never even dreamed that her friend could ever possess.

"Hold these," she commanded of Ryan, thrusting her folders into his hands before turning tail and running towards the place she thought the voice came from, leaving a shocked and stunned Ryan behind her

* * *

"Don't you dare," Gabriella continued, her voice dropping into a steady, dangerous tone which she did not know she could do. "Ever speak about her in that way. EVER!"

She looked into Troy's face to see all the cocky confidence with which he said those words gone, replaced by fear. It was etched into his features, his eyes displaying it most of all. This was a side of Gabriella that no-one had ever seen before, a side that no-one knew she even had to her personality. This was the little quiet, shy girl, afraid to sing or to speak out against anyone.

The girl who stood before him now wore that girl's face, but was that was the only similarity between the two.

The shock that he had felt at her transformation faded quick enough, the fear he felt inside mixing with anger to turn into utter contempt.

"I'll talk about her any damn way I like," he snarled back at her. "Just because I got there before you, and I got to you before she did..."

He watched her face twitch at the words he had said and smiled inside. Now he knew what buttons to press.

"How did it feel?" he asked, shoving his face right up close to hers. "When I took..."

He was interrupted by Gabriella swinging her open hand towards his face. He caught it easily, not even flinching.

"When you and her were together?" he continued. "How was it being where you knew I had been before?"

He actually got to finish his question this time before she swung her hand towards his face. He saw it coming and decided not to catch it, to let her hit him across the face. For if she did not land the first blow, it would not justify his hitting of her, which he did a split second later, his fist ploughing into her gut, a good solid hit.

As she doubled over in pain he tightened his grip on her wrist and reached out to snatch the other one away from her stomach which she held as if it would help the pain.

He used his leverage to drive her back against the rail, holding her in place as he looked down at her snarling face.

He looked down at her and then did the most chilling thing he could of; he smiled.

The sight of it turned her stomach.

He let go of one of her wrists as she was frozen in fear as she realised what he was about to do.

His hand went to his fly, drawing it down slowly...

Then she watched on as a pair of arms wrapped themselves around Troy, pulling him away from her.

She saw his face replaced by Taylor's, saw her mouth move, forming words she could not hear as the world fell silent.

She watched as Troy returned, pulling Taylor back, a bit too far...

She watched as Troy's foot slipped on the top step.

She watched as Taylor stumbled.

She watched as they both fell.

Their silent screams deafening her...


	10. The Lack of Remorse

**I know I haven't updated in a while or anything but I just lost the plot for this story. I absolutely forgot where I was going with this entire story. So now I have made up a new plot line... **

**Not exactly sure where it will end up just yet but I have plenty ideas for twists so hopefully it will still be a good story... hopefully...**

Time froze for a moment as Gabriella watched them both stumble, their mouths open in a scream that was lost to her ears.

She felt a sense of utter hopelessness as they teetered on the edge. She knew she should do something, anything she could to try to help Taylor, but somehow she just couldn't do it. She couldn't motivate herself to move at all. She just stood and waited until time resumed.

* * *

Ryan's head snapped around. He looked down the hallway from which the sound had come. There was a scream, a scream that was both feminine and masculine, and his thoughts immediately flew to the girl he had just run into. His legs started to mindlessly move beneath him, taking him in the direction the scream had come from.

But before he had taken two steps, the scream was followed by a deep thud which was then followed in turn by a sickening crunch which seemed to resound in his ears.

He ran faster.

* * *

Gabriella heard the crunch and didn't even flinch. She did however find herself moving in the direction of the steps. She looked straight ahead of her, her eyes not moving from the same level, not giving in to the temptation of looking down at the two people at the bottom. She descended the steps, and only when she reached the bottom did she look down at them both.

Her face showed no indication that she had actually taken in the sight beneath her.

Taylor was lying with her neck at an impossible angle. Gabriella went to her side, ignoring Troy completely. She looked upon the girl as if detached, as if watching herself from a far off place as she did these things. She watched as she knelt beside the girl, she watched as she checked for a pulse and found only a weak beat, and then she watched as she did nothing.

Then she was brought back to it all with a whimper.

Her head snapped around, facing the source of the whimper. She felt anger rush through her veins, flowing to fill every muscle, every sinew, with a bubbling anger that seethed into a white hot rage as she drew herself up from the floor. She took a step forward, concentrating her stare on the writhing boy who was holding his arm close to him and whimpering in pain.

She looked down at him in utter disgust, her lip curling in anger and revulsion. He looked up at her, a look of complete desperation mixed with pain on his face and she felt her stomach churn.

"Please..." he begged, reaching out to her with his one good arm. "Please Gabs."

She felt bile rise in her throat at his use of her nickname.

"Please help me..." he cried out.

She lowered herself to kneel by his side, her face retaking her neutral expression. She reached out to hold his arm, running her fingers over it, seeing where it was sore. She had to work hard to suppress the little smirk that sprung to her lips at every wince, groan or flinch that came from Troy.

When she was done checking his arm she looked at him and he smiled at her.

"Thanks for this Gabs," he said sincerely. "Look I'm..."

He paused for a moment, looking into Gabriella's eyes. A moments warning was all he got, the slight twinkle that appeared in her eye a millisecond before she struck. He didn't even have time to scream.

She tightened her grip on his arm in an instant, making sure she was pressing all the sensitive spots. She wrenched it away from his body, pulling it straight then curling it behind his back as she made him sit up. She intertwined the fingers of her free hand in his hair, yanking his head so it faced to his left, where Taylor lay still, her neck twisted...

Troy tried to look away; to not look at the sickening thing before him but Gabriella's hand always yanked his head back to the same angle. He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes, but he couldn't, all he could do was stare.

Suddenly he felt hot breath warm his ear and little droplets of water splash on his shoulder. He knew it was Gabriella, and he knew she was crying.

"That," she spat at him, pure venom laced into every syllable. "Should be you."

All the fear and pain he felt disappeared in that moment. As soon as the last word has left her dry lips a strange numbness swept over him, driving out all feeling.

Then his nose started to burn as tears welled up in his eyes.

"Oh god," he muttered under his breath as everything sunk in.

"Oh god," he repeated, louder.

"Oh god," he repeated louder still.

"Shut up," Gabriella said to him harshly.

"Oh god."

"Shut up."

"Oh god."

Gabriella released him, letting him fall back onto his arm.

Troy didn't even notice the pain as his arm was trapped beneath his back, his entire body weight pressing down on it. He was too busy sobbing out the same two words.

"Oh god," he started in a sob but ended in a wail.

"Shut up," Gabriella said through gritted teeth, looking down at him from where she stood.

"Oh god!" he wailed out in sorrow, squirming helplessly on the floor.

"Shut," Gabriella said through her clenched jaw. "UP!"

She punctuated her yell with a sharp kick to Troy's temple.

Blood started to flow freely from his ear as he gave a last groan before lying completely still.

She looked down at him with cold, unforgiving eyes. She heard a door slam down the corridor and turned and walked back up the stairs, no remorse showing in any movement she made, reality having not quite sunk in yet.

* * *

Ryan heard the wailing and the yelling and started to sprint as if his life depended on it, not pausing to think about if it was a situation he really wanted to run head first into.

He burst through the doors and looked around wildly, trying to access the situation. Unfortunately for the first few seconds of looking, his eye line was too high and he remained blissfully ignorant of the carnage that lay before him. His eyes were finally drawn down by a deep groan that seemingly came from the floor in front of him.

"Holy..." a voice behind him started, never finishing, instead getting cut off by a large crash from above them.

Ryan whirled around to come face to face with Chad, then whirled around again as the crash from above was followed by a choked sob.

**Hmm... I just found this... I wrote it ages ago.**

**I don't like it all that much I think...**

**I know I haven't updated much... for months in fact. This probably wasn't worth the wait either...**

**But hey, I got depression, what you gonna do?**

**I think I will try to write more though, and to finish this story. Even though I have completely forgotten everything, even the ending I had thought up after forgetting the original one.**


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